


What Happened to Craig Tucker?

by RoseyR



Category: South Park
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Blood, Character Death, Character Development, Comedy, Coming Out, Death, Developing Relationship, Drama, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ghost Craig Tucker, Haunting, Immortality, Immortals, M/M, Magic, Memories, Memory Loss, Missing Persons, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, POV Craig Tucker, Witch Tweek Tweak, Witches, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 09:04:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseyR/pseuds/RoseyR
Summary: When Craig woke up, he found himself lost in the woods, with no memory of what happened. As he roamed around, trying to ask for help, he noticed that no one could see him. Except for animals and the town's witch. Craig soon came to a shocking realization.How did did Craig die?





	What Happened to Craig Tucker?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'd just like to say that I wrote this for a few days, and I'm tired! I would have probably finished this sooner if school wasn't keeping me busy, but that's how life is and I'm taking things slow, but hey, at least I finally wrote this before Halloween, so I don't have to worry about it anymore and I just hope you all like it cause this took me days. I might try writing another Halloween Creek related story soon, but with how limited my time is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it by Halloween, but we'll see.
> 
> So I hope you enjoy reading my latest one shot, and hope you all have a nice and scary October month!

My body feels cold. My feet, my hands, even my chest feels so cold. I was shivering as I tried to warm myself up with my hands, however…I can’t even feel my hands...or even my own feet…or anything else.

My eyes opened slowly, the sunshine nearly blinding me. I rolled onto my back, only to find myself in what looks like...the woods?

“W-what? Where am I? How did I get here?” I slowly got up, looking around. I was confused. I got up from the ground and looked around. I was definitely in a forest, but how did I get here? What happened last night? “Hello?” I called out, hoping there was someone out here. “Hello! Anyone?” I called out, getting more and more anxious. “Hello! Someone? Anyone! Hello!” I called out.

There was no response. It was just silent. There weren’t even any birds or other animals around. It was just me.

“What’s going on? What happened to me last night?” I muttered. I tried to remember, but my memories were hazy. Whatever happened last night or how I got here, I just can’t seem to remember. “....I should...try to find help,” I muttered. I started walking around, hoping to find someone soon.

I walked around for a bit, hoping to see someone, but as I kept walking around, I realize that I was much deeper in the forest than I thought. How did I end up here in the first place? Did someone take me here and just left? Was this some sort of prank? I was so confused.

“Hello? Anyone here? I need help!” I exclaimed. There was nothing but the sound of crows nearby. I sighed and just kept walking around for a bit.

Suddenly, I hear the sound of a camera. Listening closely, I followed where the sound was, and I sighed in relief when I see a guy with a camera, taking pictures of the forest.

“Thank god,” I sighed, I rushed over towards him, “hey! Excuse me! Could help? I’m kinda lost and I have no idea where I came from! Could you help?” I asked.

The guy just...ignored me. He continued to snap photos, his back towards me. I frowned, wondering if he was hard at hearing.

“Excuse me! I need help! Can you help? You can just take me to the nearby road or...let me use your phone to call my parents, even a trip to the police station would be nice,” I said, making my voice as loud as I could.

Still nothing. I was starting to think that the guy was deaf….or just being an asshole by ignoring me.

I frowned and took a step closer, ready to turn him around so he would notice me already. “Hey, seriously, I need some help h-” Just as I was about to touch him, my hand went through his shoulder. My eyes widened and I fell to the ground, panicking. “The fuck!? W-what? What!?”

“Ugh...if I knew it was going to be this cold, I would have brought my scarf,” the camera guy said, rubbing the shoulder I just touched. “...Shit, I better get going,” I watched as camera guy looked at his phone before packing up his stuff and started leaving.

“W-wait! Wait! Don’t go, I need…” As I extended my arm, I finally noticed something. My hands...they were pale white...and see through. My stared at my hands before looking at the rest of my body, my clothes had color, but they were see through too. “W-what is this? What…” I felt scared as I checked myself. What was happening to me?

The camera guy had already left by the time I finished inspecting myself, but now I was confused, scared, concerned, and lost. I wasn’t sure what to do, I had no idea how to get out of here, or how to get back home.

Suddenly, I hear what sounded like crying in the distance. I turned my head, listening closely. The crying seemed to echo through the forest. I started following the sound, hoping that maybe this person could help me, but also to see if they were okay. When I reached the area where the sound was coming from, I saw a woman, she looked older than me, probably around her twenties. She was crying in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, but the one thing I noticed was that she was as pale as me, and see through.

“.....” I hesitated a bit, unsure if I should go over there when she’s crying, but I didn’t have much choice. I slowly walked over towards her. “Excuse me? Ma’am? I need help….I don’t know where I am...or how to get home. Could you tell me where I am?” I asked.

The woman kept sobbing, ignoring my question. I looked at her, wondering why she was crying.

“Ma’am? Why are you crying? Did something happen?” I asked.

“I-isn’t it obvious why I’m crying?” The woman said. “I’m surprised you’re not crying right now, especially when you look like a kid,” the woman said, looking at me for a second before she kept crying into her hands.

“...I….I don’t know what’s happening right now...what’s happening to me. Do you...do you know what’s going on here?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious, kid?” The woman sniffled as she wiped her tears and looked at me with her red eyes, the only color that seemed to stand out from her pale, white skin. “We’re dead.”

My stomach dropped, “d-dead?”

“Uh huh…we’re deceased, no longer alive, no longer breathing, no pulse, nothing. We died...we’re nothing but ghosts,” the woman said.

“....N-no...no no no no...I...I can’t be dead. I was fine the other day, and...I feel fine now. I can’t be dead...I just...I just can’t be…” The more I looked at her, the more I realized that she did resemble a ghost, and since my skin was as pale as hers, and the fact that my hand went through that guy’s shoulder earlier, that must mean… “No no no...I can’t be dead...I...I can’t be dead. I...I need to go home...I want to go home. Please...tell me how to get out of here…” I said, my hands were shaking at this point.

“It’s a lot less painful if you just accept the fact that you’re dead, kid. We have no home to go to anymore, no one will even be able to see us anyways,” the woman said.

I fell to my knees, feeling even colder than before. My hands were numb as as I just blankly stared at them. “I can’t...I can’t be...there’s just...no way,” I muttered, staring at my hands, but the more I stared, the more I realized that...I really was dead. I was a ghost. “....What happened to me?” I muttered.

I then hear the sound of a train whistle. Confused, I lifted my head, noticing the woman was listening too.

“The trains here,” the woman said.

“Train?” There was a train in the middle of the forest?”

“Not a normal train...this one only takes poor souls like us.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I’ve been here for awhile, seen a lot of ghosts come and go, all of them heading to the train. I just didn’t go to the train the first time because...I was too sad to leave,” the woman sighed, but she looked around, her eyes showing a lot of pain and misery, “but I think it’s time we should go, and if I were you, you should go on the train too. There’s nothing left for us here,” the woman said.

“.....” I looked at my hands, feeling my chest hurting. I didn’t even know how I ended up like this, but...maybe what that woman said was right…there isn’t anything left for me, and it doesn’t seem like anyone can really see me. “....Okay…” I sighed, feeling sad.

I stood up and both the woman and I started walking to where this ghost train was. When we found it, I was surprised by how big it was, as well as the many ghosts that I was able to see through the windows. The train itself was see through, and it didn’t seem like any train I’ve seen before.

“All aboard!” We both hear a man’s voice from the distance.

“Let’s hurry,” the woman said.

I nodded and rushed over to get in line. I was surprised that there were other ghosts here, not seeing them before. As the line slowly got shorter and shorter, it was eventually the woman’s turn.

“Name?”

“Barbara Lanning,” the woman said.

“Age?”

“I died at twenty four,” the woman said.

“Cause of death?”

“Boyfriend drowned me...all the way over there,” the woman said.

My eyes widened. I didn’t know she drowned, and by her own boyfriend too. I felt bad for Barbara, she was still so young, and to go like that. I only hope that the boyfriend was caught and got the punishment he deserved.

“Hm...everything is in check. We’ve been waiting for you Barbara, you can finally rest now,” the man said.

Barbara smiled before she looked around, as if saying goodbye to her old life. “Farewell…” I didn’t know who she was saying goodbye too, but she seemed to be more relieved compared to when I met her. She then turned towards me, “see you in the afterlife, kid,” Barbara said. She smiled before getting in the train, joining the others.

It was my turn.

“Name?”

“Uh...C-Craig Tucker,” I said.

“Age?”

“.....Fifteen,” I said.

“Cause of death?”

“......” I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t say anything. That’s when I realized something. “....I don’t know…” I said.

The man paused, he looked up from his clipboard to look at me, “you don’t know how you died?” The man asked.

I shook my head, feeling nervous.

“Oh dear...that’s...going to be a problem then,” the man said.

“What?” I asked.

“Sorry kid, but I can’t let you on the train until you figured out how you died,” the man said, getting ready to get on the train.

“What? N-no! I...you can’t just leave me here! So what if I don’t know how I died?” I asked.

“Kid, this train here is supposed to take you to the afterlife, where you’ll be at peace. But the peace process can’t start until every ghost figures out how they died, and learn to cope with it,” the man said.

“Cope with it? How can anyone cope with knowing how they died? Doesn’t that seem a bit morbid?” I asked.

“It’s the rules,” the man said.

“Look, I don’t even want to know how I died, c-can’t I just...tell you something else? Anything at all! I just...I don’t want to stay here, I just...I want to leave, please,” I begged him.

“....Alright kid, then tell me any info you have about your life,” the man said.

“That’ll be easy. My name is Craig Tucker, I’m fifteen, my mom and dad are…” I paused, my mind went blank there. “....My mom’s name...is….”

“Is?”

“I….I know it...I do know it. My mom and dad...their names are…are…” I tried to think, but my mind was going blank.

“Oh dear, seems you got a worse case of amnesia, kid. You can’t remember a thing until you find out how you died. Happens to many folks who died,” the man said.

“....I don’t...I don’t know my own family? I can’t even remember my friends or where I’m from?” I asked.

“Yep, which is why you need to know how you died in order to get on this train, kid,” the man then started boarding.

“W-wait! There’s got to be another way! My name is Craig Tucker, I’m fifteen, and I’m…I’m...I’m in high school! That must count, right?” I asked.

“Sorry, but that one is kinda obvious when you know your age. Doesn’t really count, sorry,” the man said.

“Please! You can’t leave me out here...I don’t even know where to go or what to do! I don’t even know how to get out this forest! Please! You have to help me!” I begged.

“Can’t do anything for you kid, this problem has to be solved by yourself. You got unfinished business around here, and you need to figure out what that business is before you can get on this train. Try searching for clues or thinking it over a bit more, maybe something will come back to you,” the man said.

“Well how long does this take? How long will I be able to figure out how I died?” I asked.

“Don’t know, it depends on the individual. It takes some people a few days, weeks, months, years. Sometimes people will never figure it out. But don’t worry, kid, you’re dead...so you got all the time in the world to find out what happened to you. Good luck,” the man stepped inside the train. Before I knew it, the train started moving and traveling without me.

I stood there, the wind from the train was hitting me in the face, but I just stood there, watching as all the other ghosts looked happy and excited to finally be at peace, to finally not be stuck and alone.

I stood there, watching as the train disappeared, leaving me behind.

“...No…no no no no…” I fell to my knees, feeling my tears in my eyes. “...M-my name is Craig Tucker, I’m fifteen...I’m from…I’m from…nnng…” tears started falling. “My name is Craig Tucker, I’m fifteen, my parents are…..are….” My hands were shaking. “My name is Craig Tucker, I’m fifteen, and I died from…I died from…I…I died...from….”

How...did I die?

* * *

Time has passed since I realized I was dead and the train had left, and during those long and tiring days, I still couldn’t figure out my cause of death. I tried everything I could, I tried examining my body, but found no scars. I don’t even think ghosts have scars of when they died, making this a lot harder. I tried repeating what I do know, and hoped that something would pop out of my head, helping me remember, but no matter how many times I repeated my name and age, that was the only thing I remembered. I couldn’t think of anything else. I even thought of asking people who would come by the forest, hoping that maybe...just maybe one person is able to see me, but no matter how many times I waved my arms or yelled, they didn’t notice me at all. It seemed like the animals are the only things that could see me, but they weren’t much help at all.

Time felt like it was going fast for me, as if it wasn’t any relevant. The first night, I was surprised when I realized it was already night, and I wasn’t even tired or anything. There were times when time felt like it was going slow, but even then, it didn’t matter. Just like that train conductor guy said, I had all the time in the world.

The first half of this hell I found myself in was trying to find answers, going back to the place I woke up in, wandering around the forest, and hoping to find some clue on how I died, but I found nothing. The second half, I’d just lay on the ground, not even bothering with it anymore. I’d just look at the sky, wishing the rays from the sun would warm me up, wishing I could feel my body again, wishing I knew how I died so I could get out of here.

Many times I tried leaving the forest, but since I don’t even know the forest, I had no idea where to go. I even tried following a few people who would come by, but I ended up stopping myself because it felt like something was telling me that there has to be something here, something that I must be missing. But no matter how many times I tried looking, I couldn’t find it, I couldn’t find my body, I couldn’t find any evidence of me dying around the spot I woke up in, I couldn’t find anything.

Being in this forest was starting to become tiring, and there were times where I just closed my eyes and went to sleep, not wanting to wake up, but I had to, I had to find out how I died and get out of here.

“Come on...come on...I’ve seen those videos of ghosts picking things up...I know I can do it,” right now, I decided to take a break from searching and try to see if I can control any ghost powers I might have, such as making things levitate. So far, walking through things was pretty easy and didn’t require much effort, but picking physical objects was harder than I thought. “Ugh...I’m starting to think those videos were fake after all. How would ghosts even pick anything up when everything walks through them?” I frowned. I was trying very hard to pick up a rock off the ground. As I was sitting there, trying to pick the rock up, I see a squirrel running by, it ran through me, sending a shiver through my body, “hey! Watch it!” I shouted at the squirrel. The squirrel just squeaked, almost as if it was laughing at me. “Tch…asshole,” I frowned. I stared at the rock that was on the ground, glaring at it, “stupid rock,” I said, giving up on trying to pick it up, “stupid forest, stupid trees, stupid leaves, stupid…..stupid...everything!” I roared. “What am I supposed to do!? I can’t leave, I don’t know how to get out of here, I can’t even find my damn body in this forest! I don’t even know if my body is even here! What am I supposed to do!? I can’t even pick up a stupid rock!” I shouted.

Suddenly, the rock began shaking violently before it flew past me and hit a tree. I stood there, shocked, watching as the rock fell back to the ground, motionless.

“....Did I do that?” I asked myself. I rushed over to the rock, staring at it. “....I’m...so angry that I’ll never get out of here,” I muttered to myself, trying to think of anything that’ll piss me off. “I’m stuck here, I don’t know where my body is, I don’t even know how I died, and I might end up being here forever and finding peace in the afterlife!” I shouted. The rock started shaking violently, and that’s when I crouched down and picked it up. I held it for a bit until my anger subsided and it went through my hand. “I did it! I did it! I picked it up!” I exclaimed. I grinned, feeling accomplished, “I fucking did it! I picked it up! I actually picked it up!” I smiled, I turned around, expecting someone to congratulate me, but I remembered that I was alone out here. “....Yep...I picked up...not that it would matter to anyone…and it’s...pretty pointless,” I sighed as I sat down, staring at the rock. “...Big deal, I picked up a single rock for ten seconds...not like it actually helped me get my memories back,” I sighed.

I looked around, feeling hopeless about the situation. It’s been nearly a month, and I still haven’t found anything. I’m just wasting my time by doing things like picking up a simple rock, and with how big this forest was, I am never going to find out what happened to me.

“I’m going to be stuck here forever, I’ll never find out what my unfinished business is, and I’ll never…I’ll never know what happened to me,” I said, feeling more and more hopeless. I can’t leave, I don't know where my body is, I don’t know how I died, no one can see me, the animals around here can’t help me, and I’m all alone. I can’t do any of this by myself.

“Meow,” I lifted my head, hearing something meowing. When I turned my head to the left, I noticed a black cat, sitting there...staring at me. “Meow…”

“....What’s a cat doing in the middle of the woods?” I muttered, looking at it.

“Meow…” The cat meowed, still staring at me. It didn’t seem scared, which I thought the cat would be since most animals are afraid of anything relating to death, but this cat seemed...calm.

“Huh...you lost?” I asked, crawling towards it, “where’s your owner? Are you a stray?” I asked. I noticed it had a collar, but it had no tags or anything, so I wasn’t sure if the cat had an owner, or if the owner abandoned it in the forest.

“Meow,” the cat purred as it tried to rub its face against me, but no luck since the little thing only went through my body.

I smiled, “you’re a weird cat, getting all cozy with a ghost. I’d pet you, but I can’t...and I’m not sure if you’d like the idea of my hand going through you,” I said.

“Meow…” The cat continued to purr and meow at me, almost as if it was trying to talk to me.

“You’re very talkative for a cat. Got something to tell me?” I asked.

“Meow,” the cat suddenly stood up and began to leave, it only stopped to stare at me, as if waiting for me to follow it.

“You wanna show me something?” I asked.

“Meow,” the cat meowed.

“Okay...weird cat, lead the way,” I said. I guess I’ll follow the cat, beats trying to pick up rocks all day, and what can I lose from this? I’m already dead anyways.

I followed the cat, wondering where it’ll take me. Eventually, the cat and I ended up in the part of the forest I’ve never been to, and how I knew I had never been to this part of the forest was because of how dense the trees were, and how dark it was.

“Why are you bringing me here?” I asked. Feeling a bit tense from this. Still, I kept following the cat, it looked like it was taking me somewhere important, but I wasn’t sure what. “...Are you...showing me where my body is?” I asked, feeling hopeful.

“Meow,” the cat meowed. Not much help there since I don’t understand cat, but I didn’t think the cat found my body.

“Okay...well if it’s not my body...then what are you trying to show me? We’re going really deep in the woods here,” I said, seeing how the trees around here look more different from the others. The bark seemed darker, almost black, and the way the trees were shaped, it almost looked like the trees had faces on them. Really creepy.

As we kept walking, I noticed something in the distance. It looked like...smoke...and a light? Curious, I kept walking, the cat still in front of me. Once we reached the source of the light, the cat stopped walking and sat down, looking up at me.

“Is this...a cottage?” I mumbled. Why was there a cottage in the middle of the forest, and all the way here? Whoever owned the cottage must take them awhile just to find the exit and get their supplies from town or something. I looked around, checking out the cottage a bit. It was a simple cottage, the walls were made of stone, there were two windows on the front part of the cottage, and one on each side of the cottage, but no window on the back. It had a red door, and the roof was made of hay. “Where the fuck did they get hay from, and why hay? Doesn’t seem like it’ll prevent any rain from coming in if you ask me,” I muttered.

“Meow,” the cat meowed, looking at me before standing up and walking towards the cottage.

“Is this your house?” I asked, watching the cat walking towards the cottage without much hesitation. “Did you just have me here because you didn’t want to go home all by yourself?” I asked.

“Meow,” the cat looked at me before jumping on a small stack of logs that were placed in front of the house, and then jumping on the window sill, the cat then pawed at one of the glass panels, flipping it open, and the cat walked in easily.

“Well...at least your home. Hope your owner is feeding you alright, especially since they thought it was a good idea to build their house all the way out here,” I muttered. I turned and was about to leave, but I hear something behind me. I turned back around and noticed that the door was open. I walked over, only to see the cat popping its head out of the door.

“Meow,” the cat meowed.

“What? You want me to come inside? I’m not sure if your owner would like that, even if they can’t see me,” I said.

“Meow,” the cat meowed.

“Okay okay, but only for a minute. Wouldn’t want your owner thinking that they’re being haunted now, do we?” I walked inside, looking around the place. It wasn’t really that big, and yet, the room was cluttered with so much stuff. There were books everywhere, a giant table in the middle of the room, a bed was on the left wall, a fireplace with a cauldron over it, and bottles with weird looking drinks. “Jesus...does your owner like witch stuff or something? This place makes it look like it belongs to a witch, especially with that cauldron over there,” I noted. I also noticed that no one was home, and yet the fireplace was on.

“Meow,” the cat let out a tired yawn before laying on the couch, licking itself.

“Hmph, don’t know why you brought me here if you’re just gonna be a lazy cat,” I sighed. I looked around for a bit, but didn’t find anything interesting. Whoever owned this house must really like pretending to be a witch. As I looked around, I noticed a sheet hanging over a coat rack. “Hm….” I had a smile on my face as I looked back at the cat. I know I’m too old for childish things, but...I’m still a kid a heart...and I could loosen up a bit after stressing over my dead body and stuff. “....Angry thoughts, angry thoughts, angry thoughts,” I tried to think of things that made me angry, and when I see the sheet moving a bit, I quickly grabbed it and put it over myself. I then quietly snuck towards the cat before jumping up, trying to scare it. “Booooo I’m a scary ghost,” I said in a wailing voice. “Oooooooo,” I waved my hands.

When I pulled the sheet out of my eyes, I saw that the cat didn’t look amused nor scared, it just sat there, looking at me for a few seconds, and continued to clean itself.

I pouted, “hmph, guess you’re not much of a scaredy cat,” I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror, the sheet covering my body, “....ugh...I feel stupid,” I sighed.

I was about to put the sheet away when I noticed a rat walking by, the rat looked up and noticed me, and let out a scared squeak, it then started running, knocking over one of the potions that was on the ground, and the strange liquid got all over it. I watched as the rat froze in place before it fell on its side.

“Oh Jesus, did that kill it?” I asked, feeling concerned.

“Meow,” the cat watched closely, staring at the cat. I was expecting it to rush over there and eat the rat’s dead corpse.

However, I noticed the rat began to twitch, it jumped back on its four legs, started coughing violently, and before I knew it, it changed colors, turning green, had bat-like wings, its teeth became jagged and sharp, and had black smoke coming out of its mouth. I watched in horror as the rat monster blew a small fire out of its mouth before it flapped its wings and smashed through the window, flying away.

I stood there, shocked. “Okay...m-maybe this cottage isn’t owned by a weirdo who likes witch stuff..maybe...it’s a cottage...owned by an actual witch,” I said. I had to get out of here. I was about to run for the door, but suddenly saw the door handle shaking. My eyes widened and realized that someone was coming in quick. I quickly looked around before running to where the coat rack, stood in front of it, and stood perfectly still, peeking through the little gap in the sheet so I was able to see.

“Hm? That’s weird...I could have sworn I closed the door before I left,” I hear someone say, I couldn’t see that well, but judging from the voice, it sounded male, though their voice was a bit shrill. “Salem? Did you leave the door open? Naughty thing, you know how I don’t want to risk any pests from getting inside. Oh look, one of my potions fell, a rat must have gotten in and spilled it…” I moved my head a bit and saw the guy, he had his back turned towards me, he was wearing a black shirt, black pants, a witch hat, and from here, it looked like he had blonde hair. “...Oh well, good thing this potion is a temporary one, so I’m sure that rat will turn back to normal before any humans see it…hopefully,” the guy said before walking around. He was about to walk past me, but suddenly stopped, “....There’s someone else in here…isn’t there?”

I tensed up, and I suddenly noticed the sheets were phasing through me, I quickly panicked and tried to think angry thoughts so the sheets would stay on. I managed to catch the sheets, but it seemed the guy noticed.

“Oh my...trying to pretend to be a ghost, stranger? Well if I were you, I’d done a bit better with hiding. So instead of playing ghost, why don’t I turn you into one?”

My eyes widened as the witch walked over, grabbed the sheet and pulled it off of me. I stood there frozen, seeing the guy’s face clearly. He had pale skin, a couple of freckles on his face, green eyes, and looked surprisingly young, he looked around my age actually.

I just stood there, getting nervous, but I reminded myself that he can’t see me, no one but animals are able to see me, so I was safe. Right?

“....Strange…” The witch said before turning around. I let out a sigh of relief, “a ghost dressing up like a ghost, never thought I’d see the day,” the witch said. My eyes widened. What did he just say? The witch suddenly snapped his fingers, and I felt something tightly wrapping itself around me, preventing me from moving. I couldn’t move, I was trapped. “I’ll admit though, you are cute,” the witch smiled.

“Y-you can see me?” I asked.

“Of course I can see you, as well as hear you. What? You think that just because humans can’t see you, a witch also can’t see you? You think having powers is for show or something?” The witch said.

I started to panic, “please, let me go! I didn’t mean to go into your house, your cat just kinda invited me in, that’s all!”

“Cat? What cat?” The witch said.

“The black cat you have, the one sitting….” I froze. I didn’t see a cat, but I did see a black owl. “T-there was...there was a cat there…” I said.

“Cat? ….Oh, you mean Salem,” the witch touched the owl and before I knew it, the owl turned into a tiny black fog, changing shapes, one of those shapes was a cat. “Salem isn’t really a cat or owl as you can see, it’s actually my shadow which I turned to come to life so it could help me gather ingredients and anything important and valuable in the forest, while I’m town getting other supplies,” the witch said. I watched as the little shadow suddenly disappeared in the witch’s hand.

“Well...cat...owl...shadow...whatever, it was leading me here!” I said.

“Hm….it’s very strange for Salem to bring someone here...especially a ghost,” the witch said. The witch then sat down on a chair, “won’t you sit?” The witch smiled.

“I’d rather not,” I said.

“....Sit,” the witch said in a firm voice. He snapped his fingers and I suddenly felt my body lunging forward before I was forced to sit down. “Comfy?”

“How did you…”

“Again...magic,” the witch smirked. “Now...what are you doing here? Shouldn’t ghosts like you be on that ghost train or something?”

“.....I can’t,” I said.

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“I can’t get on the train because...I don’t know how I died,” I said.

“Really? So you’re one of those ghosts, the ones that will never find out how they died, and roam around the Earth, feeling miserable, and losing their sanity,” the witch said.

I frowned, “I...I won’t be like that! I’ll….I’ll find out what happened to me...eventually,” I said.

“Really now? From what Salem is showing me, it has been keeping an eye on your for awhile now, and noticed how little success you have on finding out on how you died,” the witch said.

“You were...spying on me?” I asked.

“No me, Salem,” the witch said.

“But you said that it was your shadow,” I said.

“Yes, but I also said that I gave it a mind of its own, so I don’t know why Salem took an interest in you, especially since I don’t really care much for ghosts,” the witch sighed, “...unless…”

“Unless...what?” I asked.

“....” The witch looked at me from the corner of his eyes, and had a grin on his face. He then turned towards me, “hey...I have an idea. Why don’t we help each other out?”

I froze, “what?”

“Yeah, I help you find out how you died, and you help me. We both gain something, we both benefit. What do you say?”

“W-why do you want to help me all of a sudden?” I asked.

“Normally, I wouldn’t help a ghost, especially anyone who trespasses onto my home, I’d probably used my spell to kick you out by now and have you feeling sick for a week, but...I think you can help me with something, a spell actually,” the witch said.

“Spell? You’re not going to like...experiment on me, are you?” I asked.

“Of course not,” the witch said.

“Well then I don’t know how to help you. I don’t really have anything that I can help you with,” I said.

“Oh don’t worry, the one thing I just need from you is your soul,” the witch smiled.

Time seemed to stop at that moment. I would have gotten up in shock, but I was still stuck by this invisible rope.

The witch must have noticed my shocked expression because he added, “oh don’t worry, I only need a tiny bit of your soul. Not enough to change you or anything, just a tiny bit, you’ll hardly notice that it’s missing,” the witch said.

“Fuck no!” I shouted, “I’m not giving you my damn soul! I’d rather you just kick me out so I don’t have to be here anymore!” I exclaimed.

“Hush,” the witch moved his hands to make it look like he was zipping his lips, and before I knew it, my mouth is zipped closed, I couldn’t talk or move my lips. “I don’t see why you’re making this difficult, I explained that I was only taking a tiny bit, I even offered some assistance on helping you figure out what happened to you when you died,” the witch said, “but instead, you have to be in hysterics. Reminds me of the time during the Salem witch trials, everyone was going crazy on who was a witch and who wasn’t. Almost got hung, but luckily made it out alive,” the witch said.

“Mmmfff mff!” I wiggled in my restraints, trying to protest.

The witch sighed, “look…you’ll never figure out what happened to you, not without my help. You’ll just walk around those woods, finding nothing but leaves and sticks, and sooner or later, as time moves on, your sanity will start to go. You’ll end up being a weeping spirits of these woods, begging for someone to help you find your body, getting angrier and angrier each day. So either accept my help, or..keep looking for something that you’ll never find,” the witch said.

“....” I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t...and it’s not because I couldn’t talk right now. I knew he was right, I’ve been searching for my body for days, but I couldn’t find it anywhere, not at the spot I woke up, not the area around it, nothing. Searching the entire forest would have been pointless, and I was too scared to see what was outside of these forests, unsure whether or not I missed something. I needed help, I needed to know. “Mmmff…”

“What was that? Sorry,” the witch unzipped my mouth.

I moved my mouth, glad that I was able to talk. I turned towards the witch, frowning, “fine…we have a deal,” I said.

The witch smiled, “oh? You don’t want to reconsider?”

“No,” I sighed, looking down, “I...I need to know what happened to me, and it seems like you’re the only one I can rely on to help me. So if you help me gain back my memories and tell me what happened to me…I’ll let you take my soul,” I said.

The witch smirked, “perfect,” the witch snapped his fingers, and the invisible restraints were gone, I was able to move again. The witch then extended his hand out, looking at me with a smile, “the names Tweek Tweak,” the witch said.

“....” I looked at his hand, but I reached out to grab it. I was surprised that my hand didn’t go through his.

“Don’t look surprise, I’ve said it twice now, didn’t I? It’s magic,” Tweek said.

“.....” I shook his hand, “I’m Craig Tucker,” I said.

Tweek smiled, “Well Craig, I look forward to working with you.”

* * *

I waited outside, waiting for Tweek to pack up his things. The reason I wasn’t staying inside was because I didn’t want to be in the same room as him, not when he was able to do that weird stuff to me, and since I would be stuck with him for awhile, the less interaction with him, the better.

As I was waiting, I decided to practice levitating stuff, this time, I thought of trying some other emotions or something since trying to think angry all the time was actually tiring and difficult. I tried to think what other emotions I could probably use. I thought I could try being happy.

Suddenly, I see a squirrel walking by, looking for nuts. I stared at it for a few seconds before looking around and seeing a nut by my foot.

I smiled and tried to pick up the nut, but my hand went through it. “...Happy thoughts...think happy thoughts,” I muttered. Let’s see...what makes me happy? Um…uh...well...judging from my clothes...it looks like I like the color blue...so...I must like blue, and blue must make me happy, right? “....” Nothing. Not even a wiggle from the nut.

The squirrel must have noticed the nut and rushed over and took it, it looked at me for a few seconds, then placed the nut into its cheek and scampered away.

“Hope you survive this winter,” I sighed, feeling more miserable than ever. I can’t even be happy without my memories, fucking great.

“Well that sucked,” I turned my head and saw that Tweek was standing there, staring at me.

“How long were you there?” I sighed.

“Long enough to see that poor excuse of trying to pick up a nut. You really suck at levitating things, you know that? You were even bad at keeping the sheet from falling off of you,” Tweek said.

“Well sorry for never having any ghost training,” I rolled my eyes, “I haven’t been a ghost for that long you know,” I said.

“I can tell, especially since you barely float off the ground right now,” Tweek said.

I huffed, “can we just find out how I died already?”

“Fine fine, just show me where you woke up when you first realized you were dead,” Tweek said.

I nodded and started showing Tweek the exact spot I woke up. It took awhile since Tweek’s cottage was pretty far from the spot, but we eventually found it, remembering that I laid in a spot where a stump with distinct markings was nearby.

“This is where I woke up,” I said, gesturing to a vague area of where I woke up.

“Hm…I don’t sense a body anywhere,” Tweek said.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I frowned, “you have no idea how many times I walk by this area, hoping my body would magically appear at this exact spot,” I said.

“No, what I mean is, it’s not here at all. You died here, but it seems something...or someone...moved your body somewhere else,” Tweek said.

“How would you know that?” I asked.

Tweek took out a giant book from his satchel and flipped to a certain page. I watched as Tweek read what was on it before whispering something under his breath. His eyes started to glow and as he raised his hands, the leaves were pushed to the side, and I could see the ground dirt, as well as what appeared to be...tire tracks?

“What? Tire tracks?” I muttered.

“Uh huh, my guess is that someone took your body from here and drove away in their car, and since the leaves were falling so much during the time your body was taken, they must have covered up the tracks, making it harder for anyone to notice,” Tweek said.

“Wow...that’s...that’s actually the first big clue I’ve gotten in weeks!”

“It’s your only clue...aside from your name and age,” Tweek sighed, “but I can tell you one thing, wherever your body is, it isn’t in the woods anymore. So we might have better luck in town,” Tweek said.

“T-town?” I felt frozen.

“Yes, town. Have you never gone to town?” Tweek asked.

I shook my head, “I’ve thought about it...I thought about leaving this woods, but...I couldn’t leave...not until I found something that would tell me if my body was here or not, and I was afraid that I would have missed something,” I said.

“Well, now you know that your body isn’t here, so let’s go,” Tweek said. He started walking away.

“.....” I looked down at the tire tracks. I wondered why someone would move my body, and who moved it?

“You coming?” Tweek exclaimed.

“.....Coming!” I called out, I followed Tweek.

We walked for a bit until I noticed a trail and a sign. I stopped and realized that we were so close to actually leaving.

“Why are you stopping? Don’t you want to leave? Let’s go,” Tweek said.

“.....” I looked back. Even though I know my body isn’t here now...for some reason...I couldn’t leave. “I...I don’t know about this,” I said.

Tweek sighed, “weren’t you complaining about wanting to leave? At least, that’s what Salem showed me. So what’s the big deal?”

“I just...I don’t know...it’s like something is telling me to not go,” I said.

“Ah...that weird ghost thing where they are attached to an object or place. My guess is that since you died here and have no recollection of your life before you became a ghost, you don’t want to leave since you have no idea what is out there,” Tweek said.

“I guess that could be the reason,” I said, stepping back.

“But you know...you’ll never find out how you died by staying here, and who knows...you might gain back a couple of memories if you just stopped being attached to this place...and see what you’ve been missing the entire time,” Tweek said.

“.....” I looked at the trail that led out of the forest, but this voice in my head was telling me to not go, that I needed to stay. “I...I can’t…”

“Craig, you wanna know why there’s so many ghosts that are still stuck in this plane of existence? It’s because they were too much of a coward to even set one foot out of their fucking comfort zone, and I hate that, but since I’m helping you get your memories back so I can take that soul of yours, we ain’t stopping just because a little voice is telling you to stay, and I ain’t asking...I’m demanding,” Tweek snapped his fingers, and I felt my body tense up once more before my body lunged forward.

“H-hey!” I shouted, glaring at the witch, “Let me go!” I shouted.

“Not until we’re out of the forest, ghost boy. I ain’t stopping for anything until I get that soul of yours, so either cooperate with me, or I will drag you around like a balloon,” Tweek said. He started walking and I was forced to follow, unable to control my body or move.

“W-wait! I’m not ready! I’m not ready! Put me down, asshole!” I exclaimed.

The moment we stepped out of the forest, I froze. It was weird seeing a town, an actual town, barely any trees, rocks, or leaves, just buildings, cars, and so many people walking on the street. I was shocked, and I couldn’t believe I was preventing myself from seeing all of this. All this time...if I wasn’t so obsessed with staying...I could have seen something so...amazing.

“Have you calmed down?” Tweek asked. He let me go, and I was free to move.

“....” I didn’t listen to him, I just watched the people walking by. I then noticed a group of teens walking down the street, chatting with each other.

Suddenly, my head started hurting, there was a ringing in my ears, and I saw...flashes...images...of...of three people. People I don’t know. One of them is saying something, and then...everyone was laughing. Who are you?

“Nnnnggg…” I gripped my head, feeling dizzy and sick.

“What’s wrong?” Tweek asked, noticing I was in pain.

“I...I don’t know…” I was trying my best to not throw up.

“Oh? Did you get a memory? You’re probably feeling sick right now, aren’t you?” Tweek said.

“Please stop talking...I think I’m gonna…” Now that I was able to move, I ran towards the nearest trash can and threw up. I don’t know what I was throwing up, especially since I haven’t eaten, and I’m not sure if I ate anything when I died. I didn’t even think ghosts are able to vomit.

“Gross,” Tweek shuddered as he just stood there, staring at me, “I never understand why God thought it would a good idea to allow ghosts to vomit. I mean I understand if it’s a little girl who choked on her own vomit like that one Sixth Sense movie, but actually having ghosts able to vomit is just disgusting, unnecessary, and confusing,” Tweek said.

“Shut up will you? I don’t think...I can move on. This is really..o-overwhelming,” I said, feeling a bit better, but too mentally exhausted.

“We’ll never find out how you die at this rate, and I really don’t have time for these constant breaks of yours,” Tweek said.

“I don’t know why you’re in a hurry, I’ll give you my soul like we agreed,” I said.

“Yeah well I don’t like being out in the open for too long, and I much prefer having your soul sooner than later, so can we please hurry up and getting your memories, hm?” Tweek said.

I sighed, I might as well cooperate because if it weren’t for him forcing me out of the woods, I wouldn’t have gotten a memory back. “Fine, but where are we supposed to go now? I don’t see those same tire marks, and we don’t even know where the car with my body went,” I said.

“Don’t worry, a bit of magic and snooping around will help us find your body, now let’s get going,” Tweek said.

I sighed and followed him, but I kept an eye out on anything that could trigger a memory.

As we were walking by, I noticed that a lot of people were staring at us...or to be more exact, at Tweek.

“Why are they looking at you?” I asked.

“You could say that I’m the town’s freak show,” Tweek sighed, not paying any mind to anyone around us.

“Freak show?” I questioned. I mean I know that Tweek is a witch and has a bit of an attitude, but I don’t see why anyone would consider him strange...yet.

“It’s probably because I’m the only one that lives in the woods, that I always dress up like this, that I always buy the strangest things here...and probably because of how easily anxious I can be.”

“Anxious? You?” I asked.

“....I don’t like being around...humans,” Tweek said.

“Well you seem fine with me around,” I asked.

“That’s because you’re no longer human, you’re dead...but even still, I don’t like being around ghosts for too long,” Tweek said.

“....You’re so antisocial,” I sighed.

“I’m antisocial? The way you’re dressed and the tone in your voice makes it sound like you’re the one who’s antisocial,” Tweek said.

“Says you, you’re friends with your own shadow that turns into a cute cat sometimes. At least I know that I did have friends before I died,” I said.

“You sure they’re your friends? They could easily be hanging out with you because they pity you, or maybe they were actually bullying you and were making fun of you,” Tweek said.

I frowned, “don’t talk about them like that, I know they’re my friends!” I said.

“How would you even know when you don’t even remember them? I bet you don’t even know their names,” Tweek said, crossing his arms.

“Well it’s not my fault that I died all of a sudden and lost my fucking memories!” I shouted.

A nearby lamppost suddenly started bending, causing everyone around to freak out and stare at us, particularly at Tweek. One guy who was near the lamppost fell to the ground, shaking in fear, he looked at Tweek in fear.

“T-take it easy, kid, I was just walking, no need to do any of that weird witch stuff,” the man got up and started running away.

“Chill your hot head, ghost boy, I don’t want people thinking anymore weird stuff about me, and it would be both of us that would go down if the town decides to start a riot against us,” Tweek said.

“Says you, I’m already dead,” I said, smiling in triumph.

“Hm...true...but why don’t we make this fair for the both of us?” Tweek suddenly snapped his fingers and I felt something strange pulling my chest.

“Nngg! W-what did you do!?” I exclaimed as I checked my body.

“Not much,” Tweek smiled, “just that...if something happens to me, something will happen to you too,” Tweek smirked.

“What!?”

“Yep, so if I get hurt, you get hurt too. Aren’t you glad that you’ll be able to feel pain again?” Tweek smiled.

“You...you asshole!” I shouted.

“Relax, the worst thing that could happen to the both of us is if we die. If I die, then you’ll just die a second time, but come back immediately since you’re already a ghost,” Tweek said.

“Well I don’t want to die a second time! I want to find out how I died the first time!” I exclaimed.

“Well then, better get a move on and not draw attention to the both of us, and by both of us, I mean me,” Tweek sighed as he kept walking, a few people stepping away from Tweek the moment he started walking.

“Tch...I’m starting to see why he’s the town’s freak show,” I muttered as I hurried to follow him and made sure to keep an eye out on anything that could hurt us.

* * *

Tweek and I continued to look around town, but we haven’t found anything yet, not a memory, or any hints of where my body was. I don’t even know what we’re looking for.

“Ugh, can’t you just use your magic to just...I don’t know...find where my body is?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Tweek sighed, “I need to find something that belonged to you in order to find your body,” Tweek said.

“Well why not use me then?” I asked.

“Dead things don’t work. Believe me...I’ve tried. It has to be something that belonged to the owner and still has sentimental value within it,” Tweek said.

“This just feels pointless! I don’t even know where I live or what stuff belonged to me, so how the fuck are we supposed to…” I paused. I looked through a window of an ice cream shop, and noticed three people. They looked...familiar. “...It’s...it’s them,” I muttered.

“What?” Tweek turned to look at me, “who?”

“The guys...from my memories. It’s them,” I said, pointing at the three guys sitting at the booth.

I couldn’t help but notice that all of them looked down, especially the guy that looked a little chubby.

“Hm...maybe they might have something that belonged to you,” Tweek said.

“You think?” I asked.

“Well if they are your friends, or at the very least know something about you, they could point us in the right direction,” Tweek said.

“Well what are you going to do? Just walk over there and ask them where my house is?”

“Of course not, we’ll do things a bit more discreetly,” Tweek said.

He walked inside the ice cream shop, and I followed. I watched as Tweek sat down at the counter, not too close to the booth where those three were, but close enough to hear them.

“I’ll have the coffee flavor, two scoops, please,” Tweek said.

“Do we really have time for ice cream? And who fucking orders coffee flavored ice cream?” I frowned.

“Patience, it’s part of the plan. If you’re really anxious on what they know, why don’t you be useful and just go over there. Not like they can see you,” Tweek said, paying for his ice cream and waiting.

“...Maybe I will,” I said. I turned around and stared at the group, I was hesitant at first, but feeling Tweek’s gaze on me, I forced myself to go over there.

I floated around the group, watching them closely. I was confused as to why they all looked down, but I noticed that one of them was trying their best to make a joke.

“W-w-why the l-l-long f-f-faces f-f-fellas? I-I didn’t k-know you w-w-w-were p-part horses.”

“Jimmy...I know you’re trying to brighten us up, but not now, please,” the one with the purple shirt sighed and looked at the one with the letterman jacket. “Clyde, come on. You’ve been upset for nearly a month.”

“Well how can I not?” The guy, who I presumed is Clyde, exclaimed. Tears were in his eyes, “he’s been missing for a month! The police have already given up on finding him…”

“Well hey...just because they stopped finding him doesn’t automatically mean he’s dead. I mean you remember how he and his dad were like arguing for a week before he went missing, just...maybe he ran away. Lots of kids run away when they’re upset with their parents,” This Token guy said.

“Not him, you know how obsessed he was with his phone, and I’m sure he wouldn’t be stupid enough to just run away from town for this long! Where would he go? Who is he going to meet? Face it, Token…Craig...he’s gone,” Clyde sniffled.

I froze. “....Do…Do I know you?” I muttered, staring at them.

Suddenly, I saw flashes in my head. I think...it’s a memory.

_ “So what should we do today?” _

_ “I heard Stan and Kyle are planning to break the high score on Guitar Hero.” _

_ “Didn’t they do that already? Like...two times already? Don’t those two have any lives?” _

_ “W-w-well w-what sh-sh-should w-w-we do?” _

_ “I don’t dude, maybe we can go to someone’s house and play video games?” _

_ “Great idea! Let’s go to Craig’s house!” _

_ “What? Why?” _

_ “It’s been ages since we’ve been to your house!” _

_ “I don’t give a flying fuck, we’re not going to my house!” _

_ “Whoa, where’s this coming from, dude?” _

_ “Ugh, it’s nothing.” _

_ “You sure? You seem pissed about something. Did something happen?” _

_ “I don’t want to talk about it, just drop it!” _

_ “Okay! No need to bite our heads off, Craig.” _

_ “....I’m…I’m sorry...I’m just really stressed right now.” _

_ “H-h-how about w-w-we h-head to T-Token’s place then? W-w-we can w-watch some m-m-movies on his b-b-big screen.” _

_ “Yeah, sounds like fun, how about it, Toke?” _

_ “I’m down, but please try not to get any crumbs on the rug this time. My mom got angry with me the last time I invited you guys over.” _

_ “We’ll try our best to make less mess! Ha ha ha!” _

_ “W-w-well let’s g-g-get going!” _

_ “Come on, Craig!” _

_ “.....” _

I stared at the three, feeling my chest hurt. I felt sick again, so I quickly backed away, but kept my eyes on them.

I returned to Tweek, seeing him eating his ice cream and unaware of what I just learned.

“Ugh...I understand people like sugar in their ice cream, but this is way too sugary, even by normal coffee standards. I swear, I can never find a good coffee flavored ice cream,” Tweek muttered.

I sat down at one of the chairs, staring blankly at the table. I was confused, scared, and sad.

“Something happened with your little investigation?” Tweek asked.

I sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Too bad because talking about it might help us here. So why don’t I ask you a few questions and you just respond, okay?” Tweek asked.

“Fine…”

“Great. First one...do they know you?”

“Uh huh,” I said.

“That’s good, so we can already assume they are your friends, or used to be,” Tweek said.

I glared at him, but didn’t say anything else. “Anything else you want me to answer?”

“Well...what did they say that might help us here?” Tweek asked.

“....Well...they say that I went missing, but the investigation to find me just ended since it’s been a month. I think people already know that I’m dead,” I said.

“Hm...anything else?”

“....I think...before I went missing...I was fighting with my parents? Specifically my dad,” I said.

“Hm…”

“You don’t think...my dad murdered me...do you?” I asked. I noticed a weird look he had on his face when I mentioned my dad.

“Well we can’t rule it out completely,” Tweek said.

“Tweek, I’m sure my dad didn’t kill me…at least...I don’t think he did…”

“Uh huh…”

“Shut up!” I frowned, “look, what are we going to do now?”

“....This,” Tweek snapped his fingers. He suddenly changed his clothes, no longer wearing his witch hat, but was wearing a black coat and what appeared to be a detective hat.

“The fuck?”

“Don’t worry, no one saw me change, and no one will recognize me with this on, making our investigation a bit more easier,” Tweek said.

“I’m not concerned about that, why are you dressed like this?”

“What? This is what a detective wears,” Tweek said.

“No modern day detective would ever wear something like this...especially with that hat,” I said.

“Well sorry, I didn’t know you were part of the fashion police. As you should know, I don’t get out much,” Tweek huffed, “just keep quiet and let me do my thing,” Tweek walked over to where Token, Clyde, and Jimmy were sat, putting on a smile. “Hello boys.”

“Uh...hi?”

“Do we know you?”

“W-what’s with the h-hat?”

“Told you,” I whispered.

Tweek’s smile twitched a bit, but he kept a smile on his face, “I’m sorry to bug you three, but my name is Detective Tweak, and I’m just here because I’m investigating the whereabouts of your friend, Craig Tucker.”

“Didn’t the investigation ended?” Token asked.

“Well technically yes, but his parents still believe that your friend is out there, so they hired me to try and find his body,” Tweek said.

“B-body?” Clyde’s eyes widened. “S-so he r-really is d-d-d…” Clyde’s eyes began to water up.

“W-what is he doing?” Tweek asked.

“Sorry, my friend here can be very emotional,” Token said, patting Clyde on the back.

“I see…” Tweek said, he looked at me, but doesn’t say anything, “well look boys, I know what happened to your friend is heartbreaking, and honestly, I do hope he’s okay, but right now, my main job is to find his body, whether he’s dead or alive, so I can really use some help here,” Tweek said.

“Well I don’t know what we can tell you. We’ve already gave statements to the police when Craig went missing,” Token said.

“Yes, I know, I have a copy of your statements here,” Tweek suddenly pulled out a folder from his coat.

“W-where did you get that?”

Tweek doesn’t say anything, he just smiled. “Yes...says here you boys last say Craig on Tuesday, you said he looked fine, if not a bit too quiet that day, correct?”

“Yeah. So it was weird when people started saying he ran away,” Clyde said.

“Hm...I see,” Tweek said, looking at the information on the folder, “well...it also said here that Craig was fighting with his parents, though you three don’t know why, correct?”

“Y-yes. W-we tried a-a-asking C-Craig what the f-fight was about before, b-but he w-wouldn’t say. W-we just l-let it go s-since it was t-t-too personal,” Jimmy said.

“I see,” Tweek muttered.

“Tweek, don’t you fucking dare,” I glared at him.

“Well then...have you ever asked Mr. Tucker what the fight was? Has Mr. Tucker ever been a...violent man?”

“....”

“Dude...are you suspecting that Craig’s dad had something to do with Craig going missing?” Clyde asked.

“Well we can’t rule that out,” Tweek said.

“Tweek!” I shouted, I wanted to pull his lips off of his face so he wouldn’t be able to speak.

“Well I don’t think Craig’s dad would do something like that. Sure, he’s big and kinda scary in the face, but he’s not a bad guy. He even took us and Craig out for trick or treating lots of times when we were kids. I know for a fact that Craig loves his dad and his dad loves him, so whatever this argument was probably wasn’t that serious, especially since Craig usually fights with his dad lots of times,” Token said.

“Yeah, there’s no way Craig’s dad would do something like this,” Clyde said.

“Well boys, sometimes...the one person you don’t suspect can sometimes actually be the suspect,” Tweek said.

“B-but didn’t Craig’s d-dad h-hire you?”

Tweek smiled, “when did I say that?”

“Just a few minutes ago, you said that-”

Tweek suddenly snapped his fingers, and all three of them had a blank expression on his face.

“W-what were we saying?” Token asked.

“I...I don’t remember.”

“H-hey...w-what are you d-d-doing n-n-near our table?” Jimmy exclaimed, glaring at Tweek.

“My apologies boys, I just dropped my pen,” Tweek smirked.

“Well uh...mind leaving us alone? It’s bad enough we lost our friend, we don’t want a weirdo like you around us,” Clyde said.

Tweek smiled, but his smile looked different than before, “sorry,” Tweek backed away and started leaving the ice cream shop. I quickly followed.

“What did you do?”

“I had all the info I needed, so I just erased their memories of talking to detective Tweak, can’t risk them telling anyone about a so-called detective trying to find out what happened to you,” Tweek said.

“Okay, but do we have what we need?”

“Not exactly. With them, I managed to get a copy of the police statements, but just by looking at this, there isn’t much on here, though...I do know where your house is,” Tweek said.

“My...my house?” I asked.

“Yep. Why don’t we visit your parents, Craig? They might know something,” Tweek said.

“For the last time, my dad didn’t kill me, even my friends say that he couldn’t have killed me.”

“Whether or not he killed you, we can’t completely rule it out,” Tweek sighed, putting the folder away, “besides, once we get there, I’ll get more info, and see for myself if anyone is lying,” Tweek said.

“What is with you and wanting to blame my dad for me being dead?” I asked.

“It’s nothing personal, Craig. Let’s just say that I’m not really great with dads in general.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

“Just forget it, okay? We got what we need from them, so let’s keep going. We’re so close to finding out what happened to you, so let’s not waste any time,” Tweek said. He kept walking.

“......” I didn’t understand anything about Tweek. Why he chose to live far away from humans, why he has such a dislike for them, and suddenly this information about him not liking dads? He was so confusing and full of mystery, I couldn’t help but be curious on who Tweek Tweak is.

“You coming?” Tweek exclaimed.

“....” I sighed, “yeah yeah, I’m coming.” I’ll just continue to follow him, but I’m keeping an eye on this witch.

* * *

Tweek and I soon reached a dull brown house with a green door on it. It looked...familiar...almost...comforting when I saw it. I rushed over, staring at it, looking up at one of the windows, I placed my hand gently on the wall.

“My house...this is my house,” I muttered.

“Yes, it is,” Tweek sighed, “so are you done having a nostalgia boner there, ghost boy?” Tweek asked.

“Can’t you just let me have one minute of this? I don’t have my memories, remember? So this really means something to me. God, it’s like you’ve never had any good memories or something,” I sighed.

“Oh I do have some good memories, ghost boy, but most of my memories are something I wish to not remember,” Tweek sighed, “now step aside, unlike you, I can ring a doorbell,” Tweek said.

“Fuck you,” I said, I raised my hand to flip him off. “....Huh...this feels...right,” I said, staring at my hand.

“Flipping someone off felt right? Jesus, you must have been one weird kid when you were alive,” Tweek sighed. He snapped his fingers and wore his detective disguise again. “Just stay quiet and not distract me, okay?”

“Again with the terrible detective costume?” I sighed.

“Shut up, asshole,” Tweek frowned. He rang the doorbell and we waited for someone to answer the door.

The door opened, but we didn’t see anyone, that is until we looked down and saw a short girl with red hair tied in pigtails. She looked at Tweek, and we looked at her.

“Hello there, what’s your name?” Tweek asked.

“Why do you wanna know?” The girl asked.

“Just...trying to be polite, that’s all,” Tweek said.

“Yeah well my mom and dad told me to never tell a stranger my name, and judging from your weird clothes and the fact it’s not even Halloween yet, you’re as strange as they can get,” the girl said.

Tweek forced a smile on his face, “well then...is your mom and dad home? I’d like to discuss with them about your...brother?”

The girl’s eyes widened. I was also surprised. This girl? She was my...sister?

“I have a sister…” I muttered, staring at her. I wonder how old she is. Did we get along? Did she missed me? So many questions filled my head, and the pain in my chest increased ever so slightly.

“....You know something about Craig?” The girl asked.

“Sorta...I just need to ask your parents a few questions,” Tweek said.

“.....Mom! Dad! Some guy dressed up as a weird detective wants to talk to you about Craig!” The girl exclaimed, she opened the door wide enough for Tweek to walk in, I slowly stepped inside, keeping my eyes on her.

“Tricia, what are you talking about….” A woman with blonde hair appeared, judging from how red her eyes were, it looked like she has been crying, but even then, she looked beautiful. “Hello...who are you?”

“Hello ma’am, I’m detective Tweak, I’m here to discuss with you the whereabouts of your son, Craig,” Tweek said.

“I thought the police have stopped searching.”

“Well yes...they did, but...since I’m the type of person that wants to double check everything, and hope to make sure no stone is left unturned,” Tweek said. “I want to find your son, at least...his body if...you know,” Tweek said.

The woman looked to be holding back tears as she bit her bottom lip and her eyes became watery. “You think my son is...dead?”

“....I can’t be certain until I find his body, ma’am, but right now, I need to ask you and your husband a few questions if you don’t mind,” Tweek said.

“Laura, have you seen my socket wrench? I can’t find it any...who the hell are you?” A huge man suddenly appeared, he had the same red hair as the little girl. If the little girl was my sister, and the blonde woman was my mom, then this must be…

“Afternoon, sir. My name is detective Tweak, and I’m here to discuss with you and your wife about your missing son,” Tweek said.

“Craig? That brat, we’re all making such a big deal over nothing,” the man said.

“Nothing? Sir, your son has been missing for nearly a month now, aren’t you concerned? What if he’s dead?” Tweek asked. I stared at this man, my dad, wondering what his response would be.

“He better be dead. Him running away from home has given us so much trouble. That damn brat,” the man huffed.

I looked at him, shocked at what I was hearing.

“What an interesting response, sir,” Tweek’s eyes seemed to darken a bit.

“Forgive my husband, just like our son, he doesn’t express his true feelings, they both can be quite stubborn,” the woman said, “it’s probably one of the reasons why Craig...l-left,” the woman suddenly burst into tears.

“Come on Laura, Craig will be fine. He’s done many similar things like this. Trust me, he’ll come back home eventually, and when that boy comes home, we’re grounding him for life for this stupid stunt of his,” the man said.

“For fuck sake, Thomas! This isn’t like before! Craig may avoid coming home for a day or two, but not for a month! Face it, Thomas! He’s gone! My baby is gone!” The woman was sobbing as she fell to the ground, clutching on the side table.

“Ma’am, please calm down,” Tweek said.

“....Tweek, can we just go, I don’t want to be here any longer,” I begged him, my chest was starting to hurt from just seeing this.

Tweek doesn’t reply to me, he just turned his attention to the man, “it’s very strange how you’re behaving, Mr. Tucker,” Tweek said.

“What do you mean?” the man asked.

“I mean...with how things are right now, your son being missing, everyone in town is talking about it, and the chances that your son is dead, you...you are probably the only person I’ve met that isn’t sad about the whole thing,” Tweek said.

“Tch, what’s there to be sad about? My son is fine, he’ll come home once he stops this little tantrum of his,” the man said.

“I don’t think you understand how serious the situation is, Mr. Tucker. Your son could be dead as of now, and right now...you’re starting to make yourself look bad by acting like a stubborn mule,” Tweek said.

“Tweek, just cut it out and let’s go already,” I tried to block his view, but Tweek just started walking around, looking at the pictures on the walls. “Ow!” I felt something pinching my hand, and when I looked at my hands, I saw nothing, but when I saw Tweek pinching his own hand, I realized what he was doing.

“Tell me, Mr. Tucker...do you and your son argue a lot?” Tweek asked.

“....What are you talking about?” The man asked.

“I’m just saying, from what the reports and what Craig’s friends say, it seems you and your son have been arguing quite a lot,” Tweek said, “and to me...it seems the most recent argument you two had has caused Craig to run away from home...or...that’s what it looks like,” Tweek said.

“What are you talking about? Are you saying that I had something to do with Craig going missing?” The man asked, looking angry, “he’s my fucking son, I would never harm him or anything like that!”

“Ah yes...that same old line that many bad parents would say in order to save their skin,” Tweek said.

“A-are you saying we’re abusing our own children!?” The woman exclaimed.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t say that...well...for you, but him...I’m not getting such good vibes from this man you call a husband, ma’am,” Tweek said.

“This is fucking insane! I had nothing to do with my son going missing!”

“You sure? Because any good father would be worried sick if their child is missing, any good father would go out of their way to find their children and make sure they are okay instead of trying to find a socket wrench and working on some project. Any good father would be trying to comfort his wife when she is worried sick about their missing child. Any good father...wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing right now, Mr. Tucker. From how I see things, I don’t think Craig went missing….I think you did something to him when no one was looking,” Tweek said.

“Are you fucking kidding me! I didn’t kill my son!”

“Kill? I never said kill, who said anything about killing?” Tweek asked.

“You son of a bitch, I should rip that smug look off of your face!” The man went to grab Tweek by the collar, but Tweek quickly dodged him.

“Why are you getting angry? Afraid that I’m getting close to the truth, sir?” Tweek asked.

“Tweek! Stop it!” I exclaimed. Tweek stared at me before stepping on his own foot. “Ow! Stop!”

“I’m telling you, I’m innocent, and if you keep talking bullshit about me in my own house, I’ll...I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Murder me like you murdered your son? You must have hated how your son went against your authority, and no matter how many times you discipline him, he just won’t listen. So this latest argument you had with him must have been the final straw, you were tired of that boy, you probably wished he wasn’t around. You’d be a lot happier if your sweet daughter was the only child in the household, huh?”

“Shut up!”

“Tweek!” I exclaimed.

“Mr. Tweak, this is very disrespectful, and I don’t like you making my husband look like a criminal. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave, now!”

“But ma’am, don’t you want to know the whereabouts of your son? Especially since you’re living in the same house as a murderer?” Tweek asked.

“Daddy? Did...did you do something to Craig?” The little girl asked.

“No! ...Of course not…”

“You hesitated,” Tweek said.

“That’s because you’re putting words in my mouth and making me look bad in front of my own family!”

“Am I? Or are you doing that on your own? Tell us the truth, Mr. Tucker, did you do something to your son, Craig? What was that argument you had that made him run away in the first place? Why aren’t you reacting accordingly? Did you do something to him?”

“Tweek, stop it! Please!” I begged him.

“I...I….”

“Daddy?”

“Thomas….”

Everyone stared at the man, including me. I noticed Tweek was looking at him with the most evilest grin I’ve ever seen. Before anyone knew it, the man suddenly...started to cry.

“Nnnngg….nnnggg…”

“Daddy!” The little girl rushed up to her father’s side. “Daddy, why are you crying?”

“Oh Thomas…” The woman also rushed to the man’s side.

The man crouched, tears leaving his eyes. He looked at Tweek with so much hate, but at the same time, his eyes were filled with so much sadness. “You don’t think I’m worried? You don’t think I care? Of course I do! I’m just keeping a brave face for my family’s sake! I know Craig and I have never seen eye to eye at times, but...but….” the man began clenching his fist as tears kept falling his eyes, “I love him. I love my boy, and I regret making him run away! I regret not accepting who he is and his beliefs! I regret not being more supportive, I regret not being more accepting! I regret many things, but the one thing I will never regret is loving my own son! You say I don’t care, well guess what….I fucking do! I fucking care, and I’m worried...and all I want...is for Craig to come...come home,” the man sobbed.

“.....” Ah...I remember now. I remember this feeling...these...people...this man I call my father. I remember all the arguments we had. I remember how many shouting matches we would get into. I remember how many times I would avoid coming home and stay out longer just so I wouldn’t have to see him. But no matter how many times we fought, in the end...I cared about him, and he cared about me. We both realize that our arguments weren’t that serious and end up forgiving each other. Even if we don’t show it, we do care about each other. He’s my dad...and I’m his son...and we both love each other like any father and son would. I love my dad...and he loves me...I know it…I remember.

My dad didn’t kill me.

“Oh stop the waterworks, you don’t think I’ve seen stuff like this before? Trying to gain my sympathy, I step back, and blah blah blah.” Tweek grumbled.

“Stop it,” I said in a low voice.

Tweek huffed before stepping back, watching everyone crying right there and then, “Jesus, for a family with little emotion on their faces, they’re crying so much,” Tweek said.

“He didn’t do it,” I said.

“What?”

“I said, he didn’t do it. He didn’t kill me,” I said.

“Craig, you can’t believe him? Sure, he’s crying now, but those are just crocodile tears. Just let me do my work, we’re this close into finding out what happened to-”

“He didn’t do it!” I yelled. “My own dad would never hurt me! He loves me! He would never kill me! So stop making him look like a bad guy when you’re the one behaving like a real bad guy!” I shouted.

“....” Tweek frowned before snapping his fingers. I watched as time seemed to stop, and everyone was frozen, everyone but us. “I’m just trying to help, Craig.”

“Help? Help!? You’re accusing an innocent man of murder! How is that fucking helping!?” I shouted.

“We don’t know he’s innocent!” Tweek shouted.

“Oh yeah, like all the accused people in Salem weren’t innocent when they were being accused of being witches?” I frowned.

“Technically, a few of them were witches,” Tweek said.

“That isn’t the fucking point! My dad didn’t kill me, and you accusing him isn’t helping!” I exclaimed, “this was a fucking bad idea! I shouldn’t be working with someone like you! Especially when you’ve been nothing but a jerk this entire time!” I shouted.

“Jerk? I’m the only one here that is trying to help you solve your little memory problem and finding out what happened to you. I’m going out of my way and out of my own fucking comfort zone just to help an ungrateful ghost like you,” Tweek said.

“Only so you can take my fucking soul, you bastard!” I shouted. I was getting angrier and angrier as I stared at my family, who were all crying, and then staring at Tweek, the reason for this mess. “I’m fucking done. I am done with this bullshit you’re putting me through! The deal is off!”

“You can’t call it off! Not when we’ve already gotten this far!”

“I don’t fucking care anymore! I don’t are about how I died, I don’t care if I’ll never get on that fucking train and go to the afterlife, and I don’t fucking care about you! I’m done!”

“I am not leaving without that soul, Craig,” Tweek frowned.

“You want my fucking soul? Then fucking take it! I don’t care! Just leave me and my family alone!” I shouted.

“Family? Oh what? You’re just going to stay here and do what exactly? Haunt these people for the rest of their lives? What a great way to live!” Tweek said sarcastically, “spending all eternity in a home where no one can see you, know one knows you’re here, and know one knows you’re dead. That’s a great way to spend your eternity, Craig. Great job!” Tweek frowned.

I was now completely furious. I glared at him as my fist clenched. All I wanted to do was throttle this bastard. “Get out. Get out of this house, now! I don’t want you here anymore! Get out of my sight!” I shouted.

“For fuck sake, Craig. Stop acting like a child and just let me do my job, so we can-”

“I said, get out!” I screamed, the floors began to shake as my body turned red. I used this opportunity to push Tweek away, glad to see that I was able to.

Tweek fell back, hitting a wall behind him. I glared at him, feeling my anger spreading to my entire body. I hated him, I hated him so much. I knew working with a witch like him would bring me nothing but trouble. All I wanted was for him to get out of my house and never show himself again! I was done! Fucking done!

“.....” Tweek stood up, rubbed the back of his head. He flinched a bit, but frowned as he looked at me. “Fine. You want me gone? Okay. You want to stop all the work we’ve done so far? Okay. You don’t want to find out how you died and just want to live the rest of your eternity in this house until no one is living in it anymore? Fine! I’ll leave, I’ll leave you and your family alone! See if I care!” Tweek exclaimed.

“....” For a second, I thought I saw tears in his eyes, but I didn’t get to see them as Tweek had already turned and opened the door, “I knew I shouldn’t have come out here, I knew I shouldn’t have gotten involved, especially with humans. You may be dead, but you’re just as bad as all of them, especially…” Tweek paused, he didn’t say anything else. “Goodbye Craig, hope you like not knowing what happened to you or regaining all of your memories back,” Tweek left and slammed the door behind him.

I frowned, “yeah? Well...hope you like living all by yourself with no one but your own stupid shadow!” I shouted, not really caring if he heard it or not. I didn’t need him, I didn’t need anyone. I didn’t care if I never find out what happened to me. Now that I’m out of the woods, I can just stay here with my family, forever. I’ll be fine without him! “....”

I turned my back, watching as everyone was back to normal, and had no recollection of what had happened. I just stood in the middle of the room, trying my best to hold back tears.

* * *

After Tweek left, I decided to stay in my house, watching over my family as they continued on their daily lives. During these last couple of weeks, I slowly gained back a couple of my memories. Most of it was small, but I treasured these memories nonetheless.

The little girl, who I found out is named Tricia, was six years younger than me, making her about nine years old. She barely speaks to our parents, and most of the time, she would just stay in her room, only to leave when it's time to eat, use the bathroom, or just get something from downstairs. There will be times when Tricia came into my room, either to feed the pet guinea pig I forgot I had, or to just sleep in my bed, snuggling my pillow. During those times, I'd lay next to her, watching her sleep for a bit, and try to pat her back, wishing I could stop her from crying in her sleep.

The woman with blonde hair, my mom, was the only one who left the house for work. I think she worked at the bank, she's always talking about bank related stuff. Mom was a hard worker, she would be working at her job and working at home, taking care of Tricia and the house. She seemed like a strong woman, but sometimes at night, I'd see her pray by her bed, wishing for God to take care of me, she would then go to bed, silently crying to herself. I've also noticed how skinny mom has gotten, probably from not eating much, she would take maybe a few bites of her dinner before giving the rest to Tricia, or just putting it with the leftovers. Mom was a strong woman, but she was also sad and heartbroken.

The man, who I knew was my dad. He was the most quietest man in the house. Unlike Tricia and mom, he was the only one keeping a straight face. Since dad would work at home, it was his job to take care of the chores around the house, as well as looking after Tricia until mom came home later in the evening. Dad would spend most of his time fixing the car or doing little DIY projects, and whenever dad was working, he would be completely absorbed in his work, not really caring about anything around him. Still, even when dad kept a straight face, I can tell that he missed me too.

"Craig, could you hand me my wrench?"

"...."

"...Oh...right…" I watched dad look around his toolbox, trying to find that wrench. "God damn it, where did I put that thing?"

"...." I looked around for a bit until I saw the wrench behind a tire. "...Focus...focus…." I lifted my hand, trying my best to concentrate, the wrench began to wiggle a bit before I managed to lift it up just a tiny bit, it hovered towards where dad stood, and I gently dropped it to the ground, behind him.

"Ah, there it is," dad said before picking up the wrench and got back to work on the car.

Sometimes it was hard to just stand by, watching everyone slowly falling apart because of me. I wanted to help them, make them know that I’m here, that I forgive dad for the fight we had, and I hope he will forgive me, but I couldn’t, I didn’t know how, and I’m sure it would break their hearts even more. I still wonder what that argument was that made me run away in the first place. I also still wondered how I died.

There was no point in trying to figure it out now. Without Tweek, I couldn’t figure this mystery out on my own, and I wasn’t going to take him back, not after what he did. Seriously, what was that guy’s problem? I get that he must have been through a lot of shit over the years, judging from the small info he gave me, but what he did to my dad, to my family, and what he did to me, I only hope that guy gets struck by lightning in that lonely cottage of his.

“Stripe, come on. You gotta eat,” Tricia said, trying to give Stripe his food.

“What was I thinking naming him Stripe? Guinea pigs don’t even have a stripe pattern,” I muttered to myself as I watched Tricia trying to feed the little guinea pig’s food.

“Ugh...come on...you haven’t been eating for two days. If Craig was around, he’d be all worried, then he get angry at me for not being able to feed you properly, then he’ll start lecturing me about proper guinea pig care, and then he would show me how to feed you properly...even though I already know how to feed you,” Tricia sighed, looking sadder and sadder with each word.

“......”

“....Come on, Stripe. I know you miss him, I miss him too, but you gotta eat,” Tricia said.

“....” I walked over, crouched down a bit and stared at Stripe, “come on, buddy. Stop giving Tricia a hard time here. Please eat and stop making her worry, I’d be sad if you ended up like me by starving yourself,” I said.

Stripe looked at me for a few seconds, he wiggled his nose before turning towards Tricia, he takes the guinea pig pellet from Tricia’s hand before walking over to his bowl and started eating.

Tricia smiled, sighing in relief to see Stripe eating. “Thank god,” Tricia watched Stripe eat for a bit before sticking her finger inside his cage and gently stroked his head. “You gotta keep going, bud. Craig’s gone, mom and dad aren’t doing okay, and you’re the only one that I have. I can’t lose you too,” Tricia said.

“......”

“....I just wish I knew where Craig is, maybe then mom and dad will stop being so sad all the time and fighting. I’m worried. I’m worried that everything is going to change if we don’t find Craig. Even if he’s dead or alive...I just want to see him again...and say sorry for being mean to him sometimes, for always taking his stuff from his room, and for just bothering him a lot,” Tricia’s eyes began to well up, “I just want to let Craig know that I love him…and I just want to see my brother again,” Tricia sniffled.

“....Tricia….” I stared at her, feeling my chest hurting. “I’m sorry for leaving, I’m sorry for making you sad, I’m sorry...that I can’t come back. I’m so sorry, Tricia, I’m sorry,” I said. I was trying my best to not cry, “I love you too...I love you too, little sis,” I said.

“Tricia! Come downstairs for dinner, honey!”

“Coming!” Tricia quickly wiped her eyes and tried to hide the fact that she was crying. “Enjoy your dinner, Stripe,” Tricia said. Tricia walked through me, she paused, “ugh...chilly. Dad should really fix the air conditioner in here,” Tricia muttered, she then continued walking out of the room.

“....” I sighed as I stared at Stripe, I can see him looking at me, and I had a feeling he was trying to tell me something. “I know...I should be doing something instead of doing absolutely nothing and watching everyone here falling apart, but…what am I supposed to do? I can’t figure out how I died on my own, and I don’t even know where to look. I want to help, I want them to move on, but I can’t do this on my own.”

Stripe looked at me, wiggling his nose and sniffing the air.

“....I’m not going to ask for his help. Not after what he did. I know he’s the only one that can see me, and he does have his magic and shit, but I am not dealing with that asshole and his fucking attitude,” I said.

Stripe kept looking at me, he walked closer to the walls of his cage and his little nose poked out of the slot.

“....God damn it. No wonder I like guinea pigs, I can easily tell that you’re right, even though you didn’t really say anything,” I sighed. I stood up, frowning. “I’m not going to like this, but for the sake of my family, I guess I have no fucking choice.”

I left my house and headed straight for the woods.

By the time I was back in the forest, it was dark, so it was hard to see and navigate where I was going. I tried my best to remember which way Tweek’s cottage was, but it was so dark, I wasn’t sure if I was going the right way.

“God damn it...was it left? No...maybe...right? Ugh! Why the fuck did he have to live so deep in the forest!?” I thought of flying higher and hope to get a better view of where Tweek’s cottage was, but since I still suck at controlling my ghost powers, I couldn’t do jack shit. “This looks all the same! Damn it, I wished I had brought a flashlight or something,” I cursed as I tried to navigate around. I still didn’t know where to go. “...This is hopeless. I’ll never find it when it’s so dark. I should just wait till morning...in...twelve hours...ugh.”

I sat down on the ground, feeling a bit of nostalgia for being back in the forests, remembering all those cold nights of being alone, not sure what to do, feeling completely lost. I was starting to have those feelings again, though this time it was the worst since I now had to rely on the one person I didn’t want to see again.

“Meow,” I hear a cat meowing and quickly turned my head. Though it was hard to see, I saw a pair of yellow eyes, very familiar.

“...Salem?” I muttered.

“Meow,” the shadow cat meowed.

I quickly stood up, “look, I know your master probably doesn’t want to see me, believe me, I don’t want to see him, but...I need to find my body, I need to help my family. So please...could you show me where your master is?” I asked.

“.....” The saw the cat turning around, and I thought it was going to leave without me, but suddenly, the cat’s head started to change, and before I knew it, it was glowing yellow, making it easier for me to see it. “Meow,” the cat meowed.

“....Thank you,” I said. I quickly followed.

We soon arrived at the cottage. All the lights were on, and through what little light there was, I saw him. He was sitting on a rocking chair, it looked like he was carving something out of wood.

“Salem?” Tweek turned his head, he noticed me. Tweek frowned, “ugh...why’d you bring him? I don’t want to see him,” Tweek said.

“Meow,” Salem meowed before turning back to normal and started walking towards Tweek, it rubbed its head against Tweek’s leg before turning back into his shadow.

“...What do you want? I thought you didn’t want my help anymore,” Tweek said.

“...I know what I said, and believe me...I wouldn’t have come to you if you weren’t the only person that can help me,” I said.

“If that’s your excuse of an apology then-”

“It’s not,” I frowned. I walked towards him, “I’m not apologizing to a jerk like you, not after what you said to my dad, trying to blame him for a crime he didn’t do.”

“Tch…” Tweek clicked his tongue and continued carving the little statue he was making out of wood. It looked like a crescent of the moon. “Fine, I get it. I was wrong blaming your father, I can see now that he was a good father and he didn’t kill you. Can we drop it already? I’m starting to feel bad.”

“You should feel bad! If I hadn’t stopped you, you could have sent my dad to jail, you bastard!” I shouted.

“Didn’t you come here to ask for my help, or did you come here to ridicule me and my actions?” Tweek frowned.

I sighed, feeling frustrated. “You know what? Why are you like this? I get that you’ve probably been through shit in your life, and the fact that everyone is treating you like dirt isn’t helping, but why do you treat people like this? Why the distrust? Why do you treat people the way your treat them?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Tweek frowned, “so drop it.”

“I won’t drop it. I know I came here to ask for you help, but right now...until I understand what your problem is, I won’t ask you anything else until you tell me,” I said.

“I said, drop it,” Tweek gripped the knife tightly.

“Earlier, you said you didn’t like fathers in general. Why is that? Did something happen to you and your dad?”

“Drop. It.” Tweek narrowed his eyes.

“Does taking my soul also have anything to do with this? You and your dad? Did your dad do something to you to make you hate humans? What? What is it?”

“Shut up!” Tweek yelled, his voice echoed within the woods. “I don’t have to tell you shit about my dad! Just worry about your own dad! At least he still cares about you!” Tweek shouted.

I stood there, frozen, my eyes widened. What…what did he say?

"...." Tweek let out a tired sigh as he continued carving the crescent moon from the piece of wood in his hands, he looked down, looking more sad and afraid than angry.

"..." I took a step forward, walking towards the witch and standing right in front of him. I crouched down, making sure he could see me while he was looking down, carving. "...Wanna talk about it?"

"...." Tweek looked at me, annoyed. "Talking won't change anything."

"Maybe, but it'll make you feel a bit better. Just let all that frustration out with your words. That's what my mom used to tell me," I said. I remembered that memory when I saw mom arguing with dad, pleading with him to stop being stubborn and just talk to her when she realized how focused dad was with his work.

"...Just talking and sharing my feelings is only something a human would do," Tweek said.

I rolled my eyes, "well aren't you just a human, but with magic and shit?"

"....Not anymore.”

Tweek looked at me. His eyes filled with pain and sadness. I looked at him, shocked at what I was hearing.

“Not...anymore?” I asked.

Tweek nodded, “you can blame my father for that. You see, my family weren’t doing so well. My mother was sick and close to death, we were starving all the time, and we didn’t have much money to afford anything, not even medicine for my mother. We tried to earn enough money by doing small jobs around the village, but it wasn’t enough. Eventually, my mother passed away, and my dad started to change.”

“Change?” I asked.

“Yeah...he barely talks to me, always wishing he had more, wishing he had enough money to buy the medicine mom needed, wishing for his life to be different,” Tweek’s eyes darkened, “well...he got his wish. Around that time, an old woman came to our door, asking for directions. She noticed how my father was desperate for a better life, and that’s when she revealed herself to be a witch. She told my father that he could be well off, that he could get his wish. She offered him three coffee beans,” Tweek said.

“Coffee...beans? What?”

“Yeah, even I was confused by that,” Tweek sighed, “but what the woman said made dad take her offer. She told him that if he planted the coffee beans, he could sell his crops and earn money from them. People will love his coffee beans and want to buy more from him. My father was convinced, but the woman wasn’t giving them for free, she asked for something, she asked to take me. I was scared, not wanting to go to the witch, even begging my father to tell her no, but he just looked at me with these distant eyes before shoving me into the old woman’s arms. He took the beans and I left with the witch, he didn’t even look back as I was dragged out of my own home,” Tweek’s eyes darkened.

“He did all of that? For three fucking coffee beans!?” I exclaimed.

“Yep. He sold me to a witch and got his dream to come true,” Tweek sighed, “I will say...if he hadn’t sold me, I wouldn’t have become a witch myself. The witch was actually a good woman, she taught me things and took care of me. She was like a second mother to me,” Tweek said, looking down, “and even though took me because she needed a successor to take her powers, she never actually...pushed me into being like her. She just continued to take care of me as if I was her own,” Tweek said.

“...Then why did you become a witch?” I asked.

“....I became a witch when people stopped seeing me as human,” Tweek frowned, “when word got out that I was living with a witch, they all assumed I was a witch as well. Everyone avoided me, all the children would mock and throw rocks at me, and no one treated me like a person, they all treated me like a monster. However, what made me decide to become a witch was when I heard that my father passed away. Hearing that news...remembering what he did to me, and everything...I snapped. So after talking to the witch, the ritual began. She made a potion, pricked her finger so a drop of blood would fall into the cup, she told me to drink it. When I did, my body started to change, I felt more...alive, I saw things that were far greater than anyone could ever imagine, I felt like a new person that day,” Tweek said, “and with my new powers, I told myself that I wasn’t going to be scared anymore, that I wasn’t going to let anyone push me around, even if...I ended up not being around humans anymore, but to me...if they couldn’t see me as a person, then I might as well be the monster they were so scared of,” Tweek said, “and with my new powers...I swore to myself that I was going to bring my father back,” Tweek said.

My eyes widened, “bring him...back?” I was confused, but then remembered the spell he said he was trying to do, the one that required a soul. “...My soul…” I said.

Twee nodded, “I needed your soul so I could bring him back,” Tweek said.

“And do what? Get revenge? Torment him? Tell him off for selling you?” I asked.

“....No,” Tweek said, looking down, “as much as I hate my father, I remember the fond memories we had before my mother died. So even if I want to rid myself of my father completely…I can’t,” Tweek said, “not without asking him.”

“Asking him what?” I asked.

“...The one question that I’ve always wanted to ask him if I ever saw him again,” Tweek looked at me, “‘why?’”

“.....That’s it?”

“That’s all I ever wanted to know as a kid. Why did he do it? Just...why?” Tweek’s eyes darkened as he looked down at the wooden statue. “So now you know…why I don’t trust humans, why I don’t trust...fathers, why I’m like this...why...I can’t...move on from the past,” Tweek said, “and to be honest...this whole telling you my deepest feelings didn’t actually help...if anything, it made me feel worse.”

“....” I stared at Tweek, feeling bad for the witch. If I had known that this is what he was dealing with, maybe I would have understood him more, maybe I wouldn’t have been so quick to judge him. I sighed as I looked at Tweek before standing up, “okay. I’ll do it,” I said.

“...Do what?” Tweek asked.

“I’ll let you take my soul, but in exchange...you have to help me find my body,” I said.

“Seriously?” Tweek asked.

“Yes,” I sighed, “look...just because you told me your little sob story doesn’t mean I like what you’re doing, but I will say...I do trust you a bit more, but if we’re going to work together again, some things need to change,” I said.

“Okay...like what?” Tweek asked.

“For one, you have to listen to me. No more pinching yourself so you can pinch me and keep me quiet. You also gotta remove that spell you put on me. I don’t want to end up dying again if you somehow get killed,” I said.

“Okay, anything else?” Tweek asked.

“Two, you gotta trust me,” I said, “I know you have trust issues, but since we’ll be stuck together until we find my body, we gotta trust each other on this,” I said.

“....” Tweek looked down for a second before sighing, “Jesus...this is so annoying, but fine. Anything else you want?”

“....You think...you can teach me how to control my powers?”

“Um...if you haven’t noticed, I’m a witch, not a ghost expert,” Tweek crossed his arms.

“Well can you do it?” I asked.

Tweek sighed, “I can...but why do you need me to teach you?”

I shrugged, “my powers could come in handy...and I’m tired of not being able to do anything but float a few inches off the ground,” I said.

“Well...it would be nice if you pulled your weight a bit,” Tweek said.

I frowned, “fuck you,” I sighed, “so you gonna teach me or what?”

Tweek smiled, “well lucky for you, we have all night, so I hope you’re a fast learner because this might take awhile,” Tweek said.

He extended his hand and offered it to me. I looked at it before reaching out and grabbing his hand, shaking it.

“Well partner, let’s get to work,” Tweek smirked.

* * *

“Keep your head up, take a deep breath, and just clear your mind.”

“Um...how can I clear my mind when I have to think about the first two things?”

“Quit complaining and just focus. You wanna get off the ground more easily or what?” Tweek sighed as he crossed his arms and watched me.

“I’m trying, but your directions aren’t very clear here,” I sighed, “we’ve been trying to make me fly for almost an hour already.”

“Well you kept insisting I teach you how to fly better, so quit complaining, and focus,” Tweek said.

“Okay! Jesus,” I sighed. I closed my eyes and count to ten. I cleared my head and tried to think of light things, as Tweek instructed. “.....I still don’t feel any different. This is starting to be stupid,” I sighed.

“Uh...I wouldn’t say that so quickly,” Tweek said. His voice sounded...distant.

I opened my eyes and was surprised when I was in the air. I looked down and saw Tweek, looking up at me.

“Holy shit! I did it!” I exclaimed.

“Yep,” Tweek smiled, “congrats, you can fly much higher now,” Tweek said.

“I did it! I did it!” I exclaimed, smiling to myself. “Oh man, the view is great! I’m actually flying high! I’m actually…” When I looked down at the ground, I felt my stomach dropping a bit. I suddenly had flashes in my head. “...Oh Christ,” I muttered, “u-uh...Tweek?”

“What?”

“I just had another memory flash,” I said.

“Oh yeah? What did you remember?”

“....That I’m afraid of heights,” I gulped.

“....What!?”

I was starting to get nervous as I felt myself wavering a bit. I tried to stay calm, but the longer I was up here, the more panicked I felt.

“Okay okay, just stay calm, you have nothing to worry about. Hell, even if you fall right now...not like it’ll do anything since you’re already dead,” Tweek said.

“Not helping, asshole! Help me down!” I exclaimed.

“Just start thinking about slowly falling down, that’s all you have to do,” Tweek said.

“Okay...okay…” I took a deep breath and started thinking about falling.

“Okay, good! You’re doing good, just keep thinking about heavy things, think about falling,” Tweek said.

“Think about about falling,” I repeated to myself.

“...Okay...you’re going a bit too fast. You’re going too fast! Craig! Stop! You’re falling too fast!” Tweek exclaimed.

“Shit shit shit!” I exclaimed. I tried to stop, but I was panicking too much.

I kept falling until I fell on top of Tweek. We both groaned in pain, and I quickly got off of him. Tweek sat up, his hair was messier than before, and there was dirt on his cheeks.

“The one thing I hate about being a witch is probably the fact that you were able to fall on top of me and we’re both in pain now,” Tweek huffed.

“Sorry,” I sighed, “but hey...at least I finally know how to fly,” I said.

“Ha ha ha, very funny. Before we do any more work, why don’t we take a break? Unlike you, I still need to rest since I’m getting tired,” Tweek sighed.

“Alright,” I said.

We both got up and started heading back to the cottage. Once we were inside, I saw Tweek pouring himself a cup of coffee. I walked over and sat down, watching him take a sip.

“....What?” Tweek asked, noticing me staring.

“I’m curious. Why do you insist on drinking coffee? I mean...wasn’t it coffee beans that made your dad sell you to a witch?”

Tweek sighed, “I know, but hey, even I can’t help but think that coffee taste good, and gives me the energy I need to do my thing,” Tweek sighed. He sat down next to me on the couch and kept sipping on his coffee, he then pulled out the police file he managed to get earlier. “Okay...let’s review a bit more on your case,” Tweek said.

“Alright, but I’m not sure if this file will give us much. We’ve already talked to my friends and my parents,” I said.

“Yes, but we haven’t asked everyone in town,” Tweek said.

“You want to ask everyone in town?” I asked.

“Well not willingly, but if we’re going to find your body, it’s best we ask everyone in town,” Tweek said.

“That’ll take us so long,” I said.

Tweek sighed, “I know that, but what else can we do? We got no other options since the police weren’t able to find anything about you and your whereabouts,” Tweek sighed, “ugh...this might be easier if we could get a little sneak peak into your head...but with your amnesia, we won’t be able to know where you want to go, not unless you somehow told someone where you planned on going,” Tweek said.

“....Stripe,” I said.

“Huh?”

“Stripe! My guinea pig! If anyone knows where I could have gone, it would have been Stripe!” I said.

“You pet guinea pig?” Tweek asked.

“Yes! I’m sure I told that little guy everything, even where I was planning on going after fighting with dad! He must know something! Don’t you have like a spell where you can talk to animals or something?”

“I do, but are you sure that your guinea pig will know something?” Tweek asked.

“I’m sure. The moment I laid eyes on that guinea pig, I knew he and I used to be best friends,” I said.

“I don’t know if I should consider that sweet or disturbing that you’re considering a chubby rodent as your best friend,” Tweek snorted.

“At least I have a friend, you hermit,” I said.

“Hey! I may live out here all alone, but that doesn’t mean I never had a best friend,” Tweek said.

“Okay...what was their name?”

“It was…well...er...there was that one…no...he died from the black plague...well there was...no...she actually tried drowning me once,” Tweek muttered.

“Uh huh,” I leaned back and gave him a smug look.

“Wipe that grin off of your face. Once we find your body and you get your memories back, you’ll leave this place and move on to the afterlife. You’ll never see your friends again,” Tweek sighed.

“....” I looked down. Right, even when I do get back my memories, it won't really matter since I won’t be with everyone again. I’m dead, and it’s not like I can come back to them. I leaned back, staring at the wall, feeling a bit upset.

“....Look, don’t get upset. I know you’ll end up leaving everyone, but with those memories, you’ll at least know how much of an impact you left on everyone,” Tweek suddenly said, “so don’t feel sad that you’ll leave them eventually. Everyone will eventually leave someone...I know that Hazel did,” Tweek said.

“Hazel?”

“The witch who raised me. She was...an odd woman. Still, she had to be the nicest witch around...and she’s the only witch I knew,” Tweek smiled, “she was like another mom to me, she took care of me, gave me new clothes, and even taught me many things,” Tweek said.

“...What happened to her?” I asked.

Tweek’s smile dropped, “well...when people started getting paranoid about witches...Hazel was one of the few to hang. I thought she would have saved herself by using her magic, but she just told me that using magic right in front of those people would have made things worse, might even have them come after me, so...she sacrificed herself so the townspeople wouldn’t come after me next,” Tweek said. “It’s funny how humans are easily scared of anything that was new or unique to them,” Tweek said. “Makes me hate humans more.”

“.....Well...I’ll admit, what the townspeople did was cruel, and they were all dicks, but this isn’t like back then. People change,” I said.

“Oh really? Have you seen the news lately? Politics? Wars? Hate crimes?” Tweek said.

“I know...I get it, but...we’re all slowly trying to get better at accepting people. I mean...at least we’re not hanging people just because they’re witches,” I said. “Hell...I bet that if I was alive and had my memories...I’m sure I would have wanted you as a friend,” I said.

Tweek looked at me, surprised, “you’d want me as a...friend?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Why? I’ve been nothing but cruel to you,” Tweek said.

“True...but at the same time...I can’t help but admire that bold attitude of yours. How free you are, and how...you don’t let anyone put you down,” I smiled, “I’m almost...jealous of the way you live and the way you are,” I said, “and maybe...if we lived in another life where I was alive and you left your cottage more often...we would have been best friends,” I said.

“....” Tweek looked down, his cheeks turning slightly pink, “huh...never thought I’d be friends with a human again,” Tweek said.

I smiled, “well luckily for you, I’m technically not human anymore, am I?”

“....” Tweek smiled, “guess you have a point there,” Tweek said.

We both began to laugh, and suddenly, we started talking as if we were long time friends. It felt weird talking to Tweek like this, but at the same time, I didn’t mind it. It was nice just talking to him, getting to know him, and see who Tweek really is. In a way, he seemed more human than a witch. Makes me wonder how his dad could have sold him so easily.

“Alright, enough of this chit chat, we should get back to training you,” Tweek said.

“Alright, I’ll do whatever you say,” I smiled.

“Good, cause the next thing I’m going to make you do is try and lift my couch and move it to that wall over there,” Tweek smiled.

“....What?”

“Hey, might as well get some sort of benefits from helping you control your powers,” Tweek smirked.

“What do I look like, your personal mover?” I frowned.

Tweek chuckled, “quit complaining...and start thinking how light this couch will be, it’ll help you be able to hold things much longer,” Tweek said.

“Question, will the couch actually be light when I’m able to carry it?” I asked.

“Probably not,” Tweek smiled.

“Great…” I sighed.

Nope...Tweek was still an asshole...but I think I dislike him a little less now.

* * *

After a long hour of practicing my powers, it was time for Tweek and I to head over to my house and see Stripe. The first thing Tweek did was disguise himself in that god awful detective costume.

“Seriously, you need to change that costume to something that a real detective would wear,” I said.

“This is what detective wear,” Tweek frowned.

“Yeah back then or in movies,” I sighed, “god, even though no one can see me, I’m embarrassed just standing right next to you,” I said.

“Shut up,” Tweek huffed. He rang the doorbell, and the person to answer was none other than Tricia.

“You made sure she doesn’t remember you, right?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of it,” Tweek said. He turned towards Tricia, “hello there, how are you?”

“I’m good...but what’s with that costume? You know Halloween is in a couple of weeks,” Tricia said.

Tweek’s eye began to twitch, while I tried my best to hold back my laughter.

“Right...look kid, is your mom or dad home?” Tweek asked.

“No, my dad is out with my uncle and getting drinks, and mom is at work,” Tricia said.

“I see...well this makes things easier,” Tweek said.

“What makes it easier?” Tricia asked.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Oh, this,” Tweek snapped his fingers and Tricia was suddenly frozen in place.

“Tweek!” I exclaimed.

“Relax, she’s fine. She won’t even remember this once I snapped her back to normal,” Tweek said. He snapped his fingers again and carefully lifted Tricia off the ground and away from the door.

“Careful! She’s my little sister,” I said.

“I know what I’m doing. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve lifted someone off the ground you know,” Tweek said.

“When was the first!?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Tweek snorted. Tweek carefully set Tricia down, and away from the door, and let himself in. “Now let’s hurry and see that guinea pig of yours,” Tweek said.

“Right,” I said.

We quickly headed upstairs and into my room. We quickly rushed over to Stripe, who was just chilling in his cage like usual.

“Alright...please...don’t hurt my guinea pig,” I said.

“The spell won’t hurt him or anything, so relax,” Tweek said. Tweek crouched down and stared at Stripe, he snapped his fingers, and Stripe let out a little squeak before going silent.

“...Well? Did it work?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” Tweek cleared his throat, “hey...Stripe, was it? Mind saying something for us?”

“....That depends. What do you want me to say?” I stood there, frozen. I couldn’t believe that my pet was actually talking.

“Holy shit, it worked,” I said.

“Of course it did. This spell isn’t really that hard you know,” Tweek smiled.

I leaned forward, looking at Stripe, “hey buddy, how are you feeling?” I asked.

“I’m doing fine, papa Craig,” Stripe said.

“P-papa?” I felt so happy, “you called me papa,” I said.

“Well of course, you’re my papa...even if you’re no longer alive,” Stripe said.

I smiled sadly, “I know buddy.”

“Well I’m glad to see you again, even if you’re not you anymore, and I’m quite surprised that you’re with your witch lover,” Stripe said.

My smile dropped and my eyes widened, “l-lover!? He is not my lover, dude!” I exclaimed.

“Oh? But you’ve told me many times how you thought the blonde boy was cute and how you wished you could hang out with him more,” Stripe said.

“Say what now?” Tweek asked, looking at me.

I blushed, “y-you must have misunderstood! I must have talked about someone else,” I said.

“Really? But the blonde boy standing next to you matches the description of the person you’ve told me you like. Always wearing black, has a hat on, green eyes, messy hair, how his voice was a bit high…”

“Stripe!” I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks heating up.

“So...you had a crush on me?” Tweek asked, almost smirking.

I blushed harder, “that was old Craig! The one with the memories and didn’t know what he was thinking! I’m sure if he realized what type of person you really are, he wouldn’t have liked you,” I said.

“I don’t know...I mean...it’s not like I try to hide my personality, so I’m sure he would have noticed, and by he, I mean you. After all, you’re still the same Craig, just without your memories,” Tweek smiled.

I frowned, “it doesn’t matter! Whether I used to like you or not, it’s in the past now! There’s no way I would fall for a guy like you!” I exclaimed.

“Tch, I can say the same to you, asshole,” Tweek huffed.

“Ugh, can we just...move on? Stripe, you gotta know, did I ever tell you where I’d usually go whenever I’m angry with dad?”

“Mmm...I don’t think so. You’d usually run out the moment you become upset, and when you come home, you’d just rub my head, tell me your problems, but never told me where’d you go,” Stripe said.

“Damn it,” I cursed.

“Well that was our last hope of finding your body sooner,” Tweek sighed.

“....Actually...I think you might have written down where’d you end up going in that little book of yours,” Stripe said.

“Book? What book?”

“The book you’d hide under your bed, that way the little female wouldn’t try to steal it,” Stripe said.

“A diary!” Tweek exclaimed.

“Journal, I’m sure I wouldn’t call it a diary,” I said.

Tweek crouched down and began searching under my bed, he found something and quickly took it out. The book cover literally said diary over it.

“....God damn it,” I said.

“Let’s see if there are any clues here,” Tweek quickly flipped through the pages and started reading. “Let’s see...oh! The date here is pretty recent, there must be a clue here,” Tweek said. “Let’s see…’dear journal, today, I saw that witch guy again. It looked like he was arguing with the barista because they made his coffee wrong. I knew how that felt, they always get my coffee wrong, but no matter how many times I pointed it out, they still got it wrong. I usually try not to make a big deal about it, it’s just coffee, but seeing the witch guy actually speaking out about it makes me feel jealous, I wish I could tell someone how they were stupid for ruining one simple over five times already. That would make me so happy. Still, seeing the witch guy acting tough was kinda cute.’ ….Huh…” Tweek looked at me.

I blushed, “just read the next page, there must be something there,” I said.

“Alright. ‘Dear journal, today, I saw the cute witch boy again. I wish I could talk to him, he always makes my heart flutter every time I see him around town. Kinda wish he’d appear more often, I always get excited whenever I see him.’”

“Stop!” I shouted, I tried to reach for the book, but my hand went through it. “Just, let me look for god sake!”

“Aw, but it was getting interesting. I was interested in what you were going to say about my butt,” Tweek smirked.

“Shut up!” I blushed. Tweek quickly flipped through the pages for me, and I managed to spot something. “Look, this one was written a few days before I went missing,” I said.

“Huh...and it seems we might know what that argument is about, take a look here,” Tweek pointed to a paragraph.

“Today has been really stressful. More stressful than it should have been. I finally came out to my parents, but my dad was a bit conflicted. At first, I thought he was going to yell at me, but he just remained silent the entire time I was talking, he even stayed silent after I was finished and just left. Mom told me that dad might take awhile to accept me for being gay, but she reassured me that dad will still love me, he’s just being stubborn as always. At that moment, I was glad I never mentioned who I was interested in, otherwise...I’m sure dad would have gotten really angry.” I stared at the passage, remembering slightly of that day. I remembered how scared I was, telling my parents that I was gay, I remembered the look my dad gave me before he left. He didn’t look disappointed, just a bit...confused and distant.

Tweek flipped through the next few pages before reaching the last entry. “Here. This must be the last thing your wrote,” Tweek said.

“Today, I talked to coach about my situation with my dad. Coach always seemed like a good person, and he usually helps me and gives me advice. When I told coach about my feelings for a certain blonde witch, coach recommended that I talked to my dad and tell him the truth. I wasn’t sure about it, after all, everyone in town kinda hates the witch boy, but coach reassured me that if my dad loved me, he’d accept me, and if anything happens, I can always count him, even come to his house and talk things out a bit more. Coach was really nice...if not a bit weird, but I think I’ll take his advice and try talking to my dad about my feelings. I just hope things go okay. Wish me luck.” My eyes widened, so the argument my dad had...it was because of this? Because I had feelings for Tweek and told my dad about it?

“Guess I somehow indirectly caused you and your dad to fight,” Tweek said, “sorry.”

“....It’s not your fault,” I said, “at least now...I know why my dad and I were arguing, and why it had me upset,” I said, reading the page over and over. “But we still don’t know where I went,” I said.

“....Maybe...you went to see coach,” Tweek said.

“What?”

“You said that coach was willing to listen to your problems, even at his own house, so maybe...you went to see coach after you fought with your dad.”

“You think he knows something?” I asked.

“We won’t know until we head over there, let’s get going,” Tweek said.

I nodded and we started to leave, “thanks, Stripe,” I said.

“Good luck, papa...hope you and your lover find out what happened to you,” Stripe said.

I blushed harder, “for the last time, we’re not...ugh...forget it,” I groaned and kept walking away. 

“Good guinea pig,” I heard Tweek say before snapping his fingers.

After making sue Tricia would be back to normal and won’t remember any of this, we left my house and headed straight for coach’s house. Of course, Tweek was the one leading me since I don’t remember where coach lived.

“Hm...wonder what else you’ve said about me here,” Tweek said as he pulled out my journal from his pocket and began reading it.

“Why do you still have that!?” I exclaimed.

“I got curious, besides, there might be some clues in this. Wouldn’t hurt to keep it around,” Tweek smirked.

“Just please...look at information that can help us and not just read all the stuff I written in there,” I said.

“Not making any promises. This is good blackmail material,” Tweek said.

I groaned. “I swear, if you read something embarrassing, I’ll haunt you for all eternity,” I said.

Tweek chuckled before reading out loud one of the entries. “‘Today, I saw witch boy again. He was by himself as always. I noticed a few kids were poking fun at him, probably because of what he was wearing. I wanted to go over there and tell those kids to fuck off, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, especially when people would be watching. Still, if I did save him, I wonder if he would have thanked me by kissing me on the cheek.’ My...you even wanted me to kiss you,” Tweek chuckled.

“Ugh! Please, stop!” I groaned.

“Why don’t we see when you started developing feelings for me, hm?” Tweek chuckled, he flipped through the pages. “Let’s see, ‘today, I saw that weird witch boy again...or should I say..the cute witch boy. I know, if my friends found out that I had feelings for him, they’d probably think I’m under the witch boy’s spell. To be honest, I never understood why people are afraid of him, he seems like a normal guy to me, and if anything, I found him kinda cute. Yeah, his clothes are weird, and his attitude towards people is a bit of a turn off, but at the same time, I can’t help but admire him. He seems so confident with himself, he seems like he’s not afraid to be himself. I wish I was more like him, then maybe I wouldn’t be afraid to tell my parents that I was gay. At first, I didn’t like witch boy, I thought he was weird like everyone else, but seeing him every now and then, seeing how he acts and how he talks, and even seeing him smile every now and then, I couldn’t help but think that he was the most handsomest guy I’ve see. I want to talk to him, but I’m not sure if he wants to talk to me. I wish I was as brave as him, then maybe I can tell him how I feel. Hopefully one day...I can tell...him.’ …..” Tweek stared at the page, he suddenly closed the book and put it away.

“What? Why are you silent all of a sudden? Was it that embarrassing?” I blushed.

“....No,” Tweek said, “I just...I’m not used to people saying something so nice about me...or having feelings for me….it’s kinda…” Tweek cleared his throat, “it’s kinda nice..what you wrote,” Tweek said.

“.....” I felt my cheeks warming up, and see how Tweek’s cheeks were getting slightly red, it made me blush even more.

“U-um...look! We’re here! Let’s get going, quick,” Tweek said.

“R-right,” I said.

We reached coach’s house, and Tweek quickly rang the doorbell. After a bit, we see a middle age man answering the door, he was wearing a tracksuit, and his hair was thinning a bit. Looking at him, he did look somewhat familiar.

“Hi, are you coach Wilson from South Park High?” Tweek asked, still disguised as a detective.

“Yeah, who are you?” coach Wilson asked.

“I’m here to discuss about Craig Tucker, the student who went missing awhile ago,” Tweek said.

“Didn’t police stopped looking for him?”

“Yes, well...Craig’s parents actually hired me to look for their son, at least his body,” Tweek said.

“Okay, well why are you here?”

“Well...after a little investigating and talking to a few of Craig’s friends, I noticed how Craig seemed to look up to you and even comes to you for advice. I was just hoping that maybe you might know where Craig is?” Tweek asked.

“Sorry, but I told the police all I knew. Never saw Craig after he went missing,” the man said.

“Are you sure? He never came by or anything like that?” Tweek asked.

“Like I said, I never saw him. Look, the fact that one of my students is missing and dead has made me a bit upset, and I really don’t want to think about it again. So would you mind just leaving me be?”

“Wait a minute...I never said anything about Craig being dead,” Tweek said.

“...Well...isn’t it obvious? The kid has been missing for a month,” coach Wilson said.

“Yeah, but even so, we don’t know if Craig is actually dead, and the police didn’t say that Craig was dead when they stopped searching for him.”

“Well...I mean...if the police stopped searching for him, we can already assume that the kid is dead,” coach Wilson said.

“Yes...but by law, someone is supposed to be declared dead after seven years,” Tweek said. I noticed Tweek narrowing his eyes, staring at the coach. “For someone that students admire...you sure seem pessimistic about Craig. Are you sure you didn’t see him before he went missing?”

“Like I said, I have no idea where he went! Now if you’ll excuse me, but I’m busy,” coach Wilson closed his door before Tweek could ask him any more questions.

“He knows something,” Tweek said.

“How do you know?”

“The look in his eyes, the way he got nervous when I started talking about you, and the fact that he already believes you’re dead. Craig, without a doubt, I’m sure he had something to do with you being dead,” Tweek said.

“What? But we’ve read the journal, it said that the coach was a nice guy,” I said.

“That could be an act he was putting on, but I’m sure underneath his disguise, there’s something more sinister,” Tweek said.

“Well what we going to do?” I asked.

“My guesses are that we might find your body, or clues in his house,” Tweek said.

“Well how are you going to get in there? Got some kind of invisible spell?” I asked.

“Don’t be silly, everyone knows that being invisible isn’t really efficient, especially since you can’t see when you’re invisible,” Tweek said.

“Wait, is that true?” I asked.

“It has something to do with the sun, reflection, and if your eyes are invisible, the sun is just going through you. It’s complicated,” Tweek said, “but instead of being invisible, I have a better idea, and you get to be part of it,” Tweek said. Tweek stepped back from the door and looked around, “follow me,” Tweek said.

We both headed to the side of the house, Tweek making sure to lower his head when he sees a window. As Tweek walked around the house, he crouched down when he noticed a window that led to the basement.

“Here. I’ll get in through here,” Tweek said.

“Won’t he notice?” I asked.

“Not if you distract him. Try ringing the doorbell and make sure he’s distracted long enough for me to get in, okay?”

“Got it,” I said.

“Quick,” Tweek said.

I quickly rushed back towards the front door. I took a deep breath as I remembered what Tweek told me to do. I stared at the doorbell before reaching out and pressing the button.

Once the bell rang, I hear footsteps, and coach opened the door. “Hello?” Coach Wilson looked around, confused. “Damn kids,” coach Wilson muttered.

I quickly headed inside, hoping to find something around. When I saw nothing upstairs, I headed to the basement, hoping Tweek managed to get in.

“Tweek?”

“I’m here,” Tweek whispered.

“Okay, now what?”

“Let me just...check something,” Tweek took a deep breath before closing his eyes, his eyes began to glow once he opened them, and I noticed that the boxes around the room were shaking a bit. “....It’s here,” Tweek said.

“What?”

“Your body, it’s somewhere in here, I just don’t know where,” Tweek said.

“Wait...does that mean…”

“Yep...I think the likeable coach is actually a murderer,” Tweek said.

“That son of a bitch,” I said, “he did this to me, took me away from my family, and lied to everyone!” I said.

“I know, but right now, we need to find your body and get your memories back,” Tweek said.

“Right. Where should we look?” I asked.

“You look over there and I’ll check around here,” I said.

“Okay,” I said. I started looking around, checking behind boxes and seeing if there were any hidden doors or something in the walls or floors.

“Find anything?” Tweek asked, checking around the staircase.

“Not yet,” I said, “I kept walking around until I felt something. I turned my head and stared at a particular wall, it was hard to see, but I can tell that this section of the wall was different from the others, the paint didn’t seem to match entirely with the other walls. “...Tweek, I think I found something,” I said.

Tweek rushed over and examined the wall, “...it’s hollow...there must be something on the other side,” Tweek said.

“Okay, so what do we do? Should I just go through the wall and just-”

Tweek snapped his fingers and the wall starts coming down, revealing a giant hole on the other side.

“Or...you could do that,” I said.

“......” Tweek looked inside until he found a giant duffle bag. “....You sure you want to see? It could be more gruesome than you though,” Tweek said.

“...I need to know,” I said.

Tweek nodded before grabbing the duffle bag and pulling it out of the hole. He took a deep breath before unzipping the bag. Inside was my body, all mangled up and covered in dirty and dry blood. My skin had turned white, my eyes no longer had any life in them. There was dry tear stains around my eyes, just showing how much I was struggling to stay alive.

“.....It’s me…it’s me,” I said, feeling myself trembling.

“....Craig…I’m sorry,” Tweek said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I closed my eyes as I slowly started to remember that day. I remember the fight with dad, I remember running out of the house, angry, I remember bumping into coach and him letting me come over to his house.

_ “What’s wrong, Craig? You seem like you’re about to cry.” _

_ “As if! I am not going to cry! Crying is for pussies!” _

_ “Oh come on, it’s okay for a boy your age to cry. Everyone needs to cry every now and then.” _

_ “Well I’m not going to cry, not when you’re pointing it out like that.” _

_ “....What’s wrong, really? Did the talk with your dad not go well?” _

_ “You told me if I told him that I like the witch guy, he’d understand!” _

_ “I never said that, Craig, I just suggested you try talking to him, and who knows...he might understand you a bit better. I’m not a mind reader, you know.” _

_ “Still...dad didn’t even let me say one thing, or even explain myself. He even said it was bad enough that his own son is gay, but to also like the town’s freak show...he’s just...ugh! He doesn’t even understand how I feel or what I’m going through! Hell...it took me so long just to have the courage to tell my parents I was gay to begin with! And now I have to deal with this shit! ...Sometimes I wonder if...it would be better if I didn’t exist…” _

_ “Hey, don’t say that. If you suddenly disappear, I’m sure everyone would miss you, your mom, dad, sister, your friends...even me. I’d miss you a whole lot.” _

Coach sat down, he sat down very close to me. I felt...a bit uncomfortable by how close he was, but said nothing since I didn’t think he’d do anything. He was my teacher, and somewhat of a friend.

_ “...Um...yeah...I guess I see what you mean, but...I wish dad wouldn’t have freaked out so much earlier. It’s not like I was planning on telling witch guy my feelings so soon, hell...I don’t even know his name, and yet I like him...a lot...is it weird?” _

_ “Well I can’t say who you can and can’t like, it’s all up to you. Though...I wish you didn’t develop feelings for that witch boy.” _

_ “Why not? From how I see it, I don’t get why people are afraid of him. It’s not like he’s doing anything bad.” _

_ “Bad? You’ve heard the rumors, Craig. You’ve heard what he’s capable of doing. What if he tries to make you do something you don’t want to do? What if he poisons you? Curses you? Do those weird spells of his on you?” _

_ “Tch...magic isn’t real. I’m sure he’s just some sort of witch fanatic or something, nothing wrong with that.” _

_ “Listen to me, Craig. Maybe it’s best you stop thinking about that witch. He doesn’t deserve a good kid like yourself.” _

Coach placed his hands on me, squeezing my shoulders a bit.

_ “Hey...um...mind letting me go? I don’t think I like you touching me.” _

_ “I’m trying to warn you, Craig! That witch boy isn’t good for you!” _

_ “S-stop it! Look, you just said that it doesn’t matter who I like or don’t like, right? So what’s wrong with me liking the witch boy?” _

_ “Because I don’t want you flaunting around with that witch boy! You should only be flaunting around me!” _

_ “W-what!? G-get off of me!” _

I pushed him away as hard as I could, I quickly stood up, glaring at this psycho.

_ “What is wrong with you? I came here looking for advice, not for you to act like a fucking creep! Ugh! This is such a bad idea, I’m going home.” _

_ “W-wait! You’re not going to tell your parents about this, are you?” _

He grabbed my hand. I quickly pulled away.

_ “Stop touching me! From how you’re acting, I might as well. This is really uncomfortable, coach Wilson. You’re lucky I don’t go to the cops for your weird behavior.” _

_ “C-cops? H-hold on, Craig. You aren’t going to the cops, are you?” _

_ “Hey...get out of the way, I want to go home, now!” _

_ “Why don’t we calm down and just talk about this a bit, hm?” _

_ “Stop touching me! I want to go home, now!” _

_ “Just...just stay calm, Craig! Let’s just fucking talk!” _

_ “Stop it! Let me go! Stop! Stop it!” _

I was so scared, that I ended up hitting coach, giving me time to run out of his house, but because I was panicking and he was so close to catching me, I had to run to the forest, hoping to be able to hide from him there. He found me.

_ “S-stop it! Please! I won’t tell anyone! Just let me go!” _

_ “Oh, so now you’re crying, hm?” _

_ “Please...I’ll do whatever you want, just let me go, please. I want to go home! Please.” _

_ “Oh? Want to see mommy and daddy now? You should be grateful that I’m the only one you could tell your problems to, even if hearing about you liking that witch made me really angry, but now you had to make things worse for yourself by freaking out all of a sudden. I’m sorry, Craig, but I can’t let you tell anyone about this.” _

_ “Stop it! Let me go! You fucking bastard! Stop!” _

He started pinning me to the ground, ripping my clothes and putting his hand around my neck to keep me still. I remember feeling his hands all over my body, and I just wanted to forget, forget all of it, forget the pain, the feeling, everything.

_ “Hold still, it’ll be over soon.” _

_ “Help! Someone! Help!” _

_ “I said to be quiet!” _

He wrapped his hands around my neck, choking me. I struggled to get out of his grip, but his entire body was on top of me, and I couldn’t move. I tried scratching and hitting his hand, but he kept throttling my neck, hitting my head against the ground until I was slowly losing consciousness.

_ “It’ll be over soon. It’ll be over soon.” _

_ “A-ah...h...elp…” _

My vision was darkening, I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs were burning. I kept kicking over and over, but it was pointless at that moment. I let out one final breath before going limp in his hands. The last thing I saw was dark sky in the woods before everything went dark.

I was trembling badly as I stared at my body, feeling tears in my eyes. “He killed me...he fucking killed me,” I crying uncontrollably.

“Craig, calm down, you have to calm down. Look, we’ll bust this guy and get your body out of here, okay? Come on, we need to-”

Suddenly, a gun went off and Tweek was hit in the back. Tweek’s eyes widened, and I watched as he fell to the ground, bleeding.

“Tweek!”

“Shit! How did he get in here!? God damn it! I knew I should have dumped the body in the ocean or something, fuck! Now I got to get rid of him too!” I looked up and saw coach holding a gun, he scrambled around the basement, looking for something. “God, where’s that damn shovel?”

“C...Craig…” Tweek gasped, looking at me.

“It’s okay, its okay, you’ll be okay. Just...snap your fingers or something! You’ll be fine,” I said, tears in my eyes.

“....I’m sorry...for not being nice to you...and for not...nngg...noticing you,” Tweek said.

“Tweek, don’t give me that shit, you’ll be fine,” I said.

“A-ah...you know something...if we lived in another world...I bet we would have been more than friends...I bet...our lives would be a lot more happy…”

“Tweek...please...don’t…” I said, trembling.

Tweek looked up at me before raising his hands and tried to place it on my cheek, but to my horror, his hand went through my face.

“Tweek…”

“....I like you too...and I wished we had met differently,” Tweek said. “Who knows...we could be holding hands...and doing all that romantic stuff you wanted…” Tweek began closing his eyes, “...I’m so sorry...for not being a good...partner…”

“Tweek...Tweek! Tweek!”

Tweek closed his eyes, and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not, but seeing him like this, seeing the blood, and knowing what Wilson did, I couldn’t take it.

I turned towards coach, seeing him holding his shovel and grabbing the duffel bag where my body was in. He didn’t even care what he did, all he cared about was his stupid reputation.

“Fuck...what am I going to do...maybe if I blame everyone on the witch, they won’t suspect me.”

I was breathing heavily as I glared at him, my anger spreading throughout my body. Soon, everything in the basement began to shake violently.

“You did this...you did this to me,” I said, “you killed me!” I shouted.

“W-what? What’s going on!?” Coach dropped his shovel and looked around, starting to get scared, “the witch must be doing this somehow! Shit, I gotta get out of here!” Coach tried to run for the door, but I slammed the door shut, he tried to open the door, but I made sure he couldn’t leave.

“You bastard! You killed me!” I shouted, my voice booming as objects started flying across the room, glass shattering, and the ground shaking.

“Who said that!?” Coach exclaimed. “Who’s there!? Is that you, witch!?”

“You fucking killed me! You killed me, you bastard!” I shouted, my entire body glowing red.

I noticed coach staring at my direction, his eyes were wide as he mouth gaped open. “C...Craig?”

I glared at him, my voice shaking as my anger filled my body.

“It can’t be...you’re dead….”

“Because of you,” I said, my voice became a loud whisper. “You ruined my life, you took me away from my friends and family, you turned me into this!” I shouted, my voice causing the walls to have a large crack.

“C-Craig, please! It was an accident! I swear!”

“Accident? Accident!? I remember it...I remember it all. It was no fucking accident,” I said, “and now...what you did here...I’m not going to let you go, I will drag you all the way to Hell if I have to!” My voice roared as I felt hands sprouting out of my body, lunging for coach.

“Wait! Stop! Please!”

“You didn’t stop when I begged you, you kept going, even when I cried,” My body was trembling as I stared at Tweek, feeling tears pouring out of my eyes. “You think he’s a monster? In reality, you’re the real monster!” I shouted. I lunged towards him, wrapping my hands around his throat, trying to choke him like he did with me. “I’ll kill you, make you feel how I felt that night, but I’ll take my time, and make you wish you were dead much sooner,” I said.

“P-please! I’m...sorry! I’m...sorry!” Coach exclaimed, begging me to stop.

“You will be,” I said. I kept choking him, wanting him to suffer like I did. My breathing became uneven as my body kept trembling. I was scared, but I had to do it. He did this to me, and he took Tweek away from me! I was going to make him pay.

“Aaaaand...we’re done here,” I hear fingers snapping and before I knew it, coach was suddenly all tied up and was lifted in the air. I quickly turned around, seeing Tweek, alive.

“You’re okay!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah...sorta. He really hit me good, if he had shot me a little more to the left, I’m sure he’d hit something important. Good thing witch magic is also another layer of protection from bullet wounds,” Tweek said, “you have no idea how many people tried to shoot me in the old days,” Tweek said.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Coach exclaimed.

“I don’t think so, asshole,” Tweek snapped his fingers and we watched as coach was flung against the wall, hitting his head, leaving him unconscious. “There, that’ll keep him quiet for awhile, just until the police show up,” Tweek said.

I looked at him, shocked, “was this part of your plan? Pretend you were dead and have me almost killed him, and get you in trouble!? What if I had killed him? The police would have thought you killed me and the coach!” I exclaimed.

“Well sorry, I needed you to be angry so that coach here wouldn’t shoot me again as I try to come up with a spell to retain him. You were the perfect distraction, and I did enjoy seeing your getting all angry over my behalf,” Tweek smiled.

“You…you...you little bastard!” I rushed towards him. Tweek closed his eyes, probably expecting me to hit him or something, but instead, I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Never make me worry again! It’s bad enough I died, don’t need you dying too!” I shouted.

“.....” Tweek looked at me before wrapping his arms around me, “noted.”

We smiled at each other before pulling away, we then walked over towards the unconscious coach. Tweek stared at him before taking out my file, he then threw it on top of coach’s body.

“Case closed,” Tweek said.

“Thank god.”

* * *

After the police got involved, coach was soon arrested. He tried to pin this on Tweek, but with the evidence that Tweek showed the police, everyone now knew what had happened to me.

When word got out, my family and friends rushed over, seeing my body. As expected, my friends began to break down, Clyde crying the loudest, mom looked at my body, holding my hand tightly while apologizing, Tricia hugging mom, crying herself, and dad...he walked over and placed his hand on my head, whispering an apology as he broke down.

Dad turned towards Tweek, he suddenly grabbed Tweek’s hand and started shaking it, “t-thank you...thank you for finding my son,” dad said, tears in his eyes.

“Thank you,” mom said.

“Thank you,” Tricia said.

“Thanks for finding him,” Clyde sniffled.

“Thanks,” Token said.

“Y-you’re a g-g-g-good guy, thank y-you,” Jimmy said.

“....I’m glad to have helped,” Tweek said, “Craig can finally rest in peace now,” Tweek said, smiling sadly.

“.....” I felt Tweek holding my hand as I stared at my body, tears falling from my eyes. It was over...they can all move on now.

After everything had settled, and coach was now in prison for what he did, everyone can now heal and move on from me. The guys don’t have to worry about me anymore, mom and dad no longer fought or kept their emotions hidden, and Tricia didn’t have to worry about our parents. Everyone can finally move on, they finally said their goodbyes, and now...it was time for me to go.

Before that...I needed to keep my promise.

“Okay, so...it’s not going to be painful, is it?”

“Well I wouldn’t know since this is my first time extracting a soul from a ghost, Craig,” Tweek said.

“You never said that!” I exclaimed.

“I didn’t have to, look, the spell will last for about ten minutes, plenty of time for me talk to my dad and move on,” Tweek sighed.

“....Are you sure...you’ll be fine with just asking him that one question? Don’t you want to yell at him? Tell him what a good for nothing father he was?”

“....I could tell him that, but it wouldn’t change anything. He’s dead, I’m a witch, life moves on. Besides...I bet dad is happy to be with mom again, so I don’t want to keep him around for too long,” Tweek said.

“....Well if you need me, I’ll be right next to you,” I said.

Tweek smiled, “hold still,” Tweek said.

“Okay, just...warn me you’re about to pull it out, cause if this is going to hurt, I would like to know ahead of time, please, so if you would, just-”

“Done,” Tweek said.

I opened my eyes and turned around, he was holding a small little orb that was glowing white. “....That’s it? Seriously?”

“I did say I only need a little,” Tweek sighed as he dropped my soul into the cauldron, “you feel any different?”

“....Honestly...no. I still feel the same...though I probably don’t give two shits about things even more now,” I said.

“Told you,” Tweek smiled, “okay...that’s the last ingredient,” Tweek said.

“....Are you ready?”

“....Honestly…no,” Tweek said, “it’s been years since I saw dad, and I….I don’t know how I’ll react when I see him. I don’t know if I’ll be angry, sad, happy, or even sick. It’s...terrifying,” Tweek said.

“Hey...you’re Tweek Tweak, the town’s heroic witch. You can do anything,” I said.

Tweek smiled, “I will admit...hearing people calling me that is a lot better than people calling me a freak show,” Tweek said. Tweek rubbed his hands and took a deep breath, “here we go,” Tweek said. Tweek started chanting the spell, his eyes glowing, he lifted his hands as the potion in the cauldron began to swirl around. Before I knew it, a portal appeared by the door, and I see a man walking out of it.

“Tweek, is that him?” I asked.

Tweek turned around, staring at the man, “yep. That’s dad,” Tweek said. Tweek stepped towards the man, “stay close, okay?”

“Sure thing,” I said.

“....Tweek? Is that you?” The man asked.

“Hello...father,” Tweek said.

“Tweek...my god...Tweek, it’s been so-”

Tweek raised his hand, “I don’t have time for this. I brought you here to get some closure, that’s it. I don’t want your apology, I don’t want anything from you. All I want is answers,” Tweek said.

“Tweek….”

Tweek looked down, his hands making a fist. I noticed he was trembling a bit, so I rushed over and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” I said.

“.....” Tweek sighed and looked back at his father, “you sold me to a witch. You didn’t hesitate to take those beans and gave me to the witch. You didn’t look back, even when I cried for help, you never once...visited me, never once did you apologize, you never even gave me an excuse. You just pushed me into the witch’s arm and started your damn coffee bean business. You finally got your dream to come true...but at the same time...you lost the only family you had. Now I brought you back to life...because I needed to know. Why?” Tweek said, his eyes darkening, “did you even care about me? Did you even love me? Was I even a son to you? What went through your damn head when you sold me? Why did you do it?” Tweek asked.

“.....Son...for years...I wanted to ask for your forgiveness, but...I was a coward. I was desperate, son, and when your mother died because I wasn’t able to provide for our family, I knew that...our fates would end the same way. So when the witch came and told me about the beans, I didn’t believe her, I thought she was playing a trick, but when she asked to take you...I knew you’d live a better life with someone else that can give you things that I couldn’t. So it broke my heart when I had to give you away, and I regret it everyday, even as my life slowly began to change because of the beans. I wanted to look for you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t listen to me or wanted to see me. I know...I ruined our relationship as father and son, and I knew that you must hate me. I know...and I’m sorry...for everything. However...I never stopped caring about you, never stopped worrying about you, and even as I died and watched you from Heaven, I was so happy to see how much you’ve achieved in life. You got to see the world, live long enough to be part of the twenty first century, and live a life that I wasn’t able to give you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, I’m sorry I left you. I’m sorry…”

“.....” Tweek stared at his father, tears in his eyes. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him behind as he began to cry. “That’s all I ever wanted to hear...I just needed to know if you even care,” Tweek sniffled.

“Son…I’m sorry.”

Tweek wiped his eyes as he turned around, his back towards his father, “this is goodbye dad. I won’t ever see you again, not unless I die one day, but that won’t be today or tomorrow,” Tweek said. “With this...I can finally move on from you...and live my life how I see fit. So dad...I hope you have a good afterlife with mom,” Tweek said.

“Tweek...we’ll miss you,” Tweek’s father said.

“....” Tweek turned his head, looking back at his father, “though I haven’t forgiven you entirely…I’ll miss you too,” Tweek said.

Tweek’s father smiled before he stepped back into the portal, disappearing forever. Once Tweek’s father was gone, Tweek broke into tears and fell to the ground, sobbing in my arms.

“It’s okay. You did good,” I whispered as I held him tightly.

“It hurts...it hurts,” Tweek exclaimed.

“I know...I know...it’s hard when you have to say goodbye, huh?” I said, tears in my eyes, “I know...it’ll be okay now. You’ll be okay,” I said.

We just sat on the floor for a bit, hugging each other.

* * *

I took a deep breath as I waited, Tweek stood next to me, crossing his arms and looking down. I looked at him, a bit worried.

“Tweek?”

“What?”

“Are you...going to miss me?” I asked.

“Tch, why would I miss you? It’s not like I knew you when you were alive, and I still don’t know shit about you, so...this is fine! You’ll move on, the town no longer hates me, and our lives will continue on forever. Simple,” Tweek said.

“...Tweek...be honest here,” I said.

“....” Tweek sighed before turning towards me. He suddenly wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly, “I don’t want you to go...I don’t want you to leave me,” Tweek whispered.

“....Tweek.”

“I know...it’s selfish of me to say this, but...I want to know more about you...and show you the real me...and have you calling me by my name instead of always calling me ‘witch boy.’” Tweek smiled, “....I don’t want you to go...but I know you have to move on,” Tweek said.

“....I wish things were different. I wish I was alive, so I can actually feel the warmth from your arms, I wish we could have met in a more pleasant way, and I wish...we could have started out as friends,” I said.

Tweek smiled, “I’d probably be scared of that at first...but if it’s you...I’m sure I would have loved every moment of it,” Tweek said, tears in his eyes.

I smiled, “me too,” I said.

We hear the train coming in the distant, and we began pulling away. I looked at Tweek, he looked at me.

“Guess...this is goodbye,” Tweek said.

“Seems like it,” I said.

“....I’m gonna miss you, ghost boy,” Tweek smiled.

“I’ll miss you too, Tweek,” I said.

I leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Tweek’s cheek. Tweek blushed and looked at me.

“What? No kiss on the lips?” Tweek joked.

“Shut up,” I smiled. The train arrived and I pulled away. “Goodbye,” I said.

“Goodbye, Craig,” Tweek said.

We stared at each other for a little longer before I turned around and started heading to the train. Once I got in line, I watched from the distant as Tweek started leaving, I guess he didn’t want to see me leave.

I sighed as I watched him leave, my chest hurting. I know this is for the best, I finally got my memories back, I’ll be able to move on, and everything will go good for me from this point on…so why don’t I feel good right now?

“Well well well, if isn’t you. Since you’re here, that must mean you figured out how you died, right?” The conductor asked.

“I guess,” I shrugged.

“Alright, well as protocol, gotta ask you the questions again,” the conductor said.

“Seriously?” I frowned.

“It’s the rules. Won’t take long. Just need to know your name, age, and how you died, then you can get on the train and we’ll be going to the afterlife,” the conductor smiled. He took out his clipboard, “name?”

I sighed, “Craig Tucker.”

“Age?”

“I’m fifteen,” I sighed.

“Cause of death?” The conductor asked.

“....I was murdered,” I said.

“Mmmm...gonna need more details there kid, if you don’t mind,” the conductor said.

I frowned, “I was murdered by my coach. I didn’t know about it until...a good friend of mine...helped me figure it out. Without him...I’d probably still be lost around these woods...getting nowhere close to finding...my body.”

“Well er...I didn’t need to know all that, but hey, murdered by your coach, got it. Well kid, you’re good to go. You can now get on the train,” the conductor smiled.

“.....” I looked back, feeling my chest aching. This feeling...I remember it so well. This was the same feeling when I know what I needed to do, and getting on this train wasn’t that. “....I have a question,” I asked.

“Oh...uh...okay. What is it?” The conductor asked.

“What kind of ghost aren’t able to get on the train?”

“Mostly ghosts who lost their memories and can’t remember how they died. Why?”

“Another question...is there actually another type of ghosts that don’t get on the train?” I asked.

“Well...uh...sure. Usually the ones that can’t seem to let go and chose to stay here forever, but I don’t really recommend it,” the conductor said.

“Why’s that?”

“Well all those ghosts will eventually come around and get on the train in the end, especially when they know that no matter how long they stay around, none of their loved ones will see them, and they’ll go crazier and crazier as they walk around all alone,” the conductor said.

“So you’re telling me...the ghosts who go crazy and chose to stay behind are because...they don’t have anyone to see them? That they are alone?”

“Uh...yes? Why?”

I smiled, “nothing, you told me what I needed to hear,” I turned around and started running back.

“Wait! Where are you going!? The train is here!”

“Sorry! But I don’t think I want to get on! Maybe one day, but not today or tomorrow!” I shouted back. I kept running and then ended up flying through the woods, heading back to Tweek’s cottage. When I saw Tweek, I yelled his name. “Tweek! Tweek!” I shouted.

Tweek turned around, “Craig!?”

“Tweek!” I shouted as I flew towards him.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoah! Slow down! You’re gonna!” I crashed into him.

We both fell to the ground, groaning in pain, but I didn’t care. I looked at him, the biggest smile on my face.

“Tweek!”

“Craig, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on the train?”

“I’m staying,” I said.

“S-staying? Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Dude, I got nothing in the afterlife, even if I’ll be happy there, I won’t be for long, not when you’re still here. I want to spend all eternity with you,” I said.

“With me? Why?” Tweek asked, his cheeks turning pink.

I smiled, “because I like you, dumb ass,” I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. I was blushing, but not as much as Tweek was as he looked at me with wide eyes.

“.....” Tweek smiled before placing his hand on my cheek. I sighed when I felt how warm his hand was. “I like you too,” Tweek said. I smiled at him. “Now...mind getting off of me? For a ghost...you’re heavy,” Tweek chuckled.

“Fuck you,” Tweek smiled, but I did get off of him.

Once we got up, Tweek grabbed my hand and we started walking to Tweek’s cottage.

“So...since we’ll be together for all eternity...what do you wanna do?” Tweek asked.

I smiled, “well...I guess we can use this time to get to know each other a bit better,” I said.

Tweek smiled, “I’d like that. How should we start?”

I turned around, looking at Tweek. I smiled before offering my hand to him, “hi. My name is Craig Tucker. I’m fifteen, and uh…” I felt my cheeks getting warm, “I’ve...had a crush on you for awhile,” I said.

Tweek smiled, chuckling, “hello, my name is Tweek Tweak, I’m a witch and immortal, and to be honest with you? I’m starting to have a crush on you too,” Tweek smiled.

I smiled, feeling my chest getting warm. Even though I know I there isn’t much left for me in town, having Tweek around, I know I won’t be lonely, and I know that I’ll be a lot happier with him in my life.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled.

** _The End._ **


End file.
